Justice League: Shadows in the Dark
by The Sulkier Clown
Summary: Batman and Wonder Woman have finally confessed their feelings to one another but their union is not the secret they think it is. With a band of Gotham's worst, the Joker plans to give his nemesis a "congratulatory gift" that none will ever forget. As Bruce and Diana face the ultimate test, both the Justice League and Gotham will come under siege, and not all will make it out alive…
1. Prologue: Ace in the Hole

**Prologue: Ace in the Hole**

 ** _A/N:_**

 ** _Howdy folks. Like that pesky rash I'm back again. Long overdue, but here I am with a little early Christmas present for you all; the prologue, acting as a teaser for the story which will begin posting in earnest in mid-January._**

 ** _And yes, this is the third big one in my series of Justice League stories, as promised. Only reason I didn't specifically advertise it as such in the description was so as not to scare off new fans. If you haven't read the rest (why the hell not?) you ought to be able to leap right in here, just be aware of spoilers for my older stuff throughout. So go to me profile, pick out the earlier entries and read them first if you want (not forgetting to drop a comment or two along the way!). If not, dive on in here!_**

 ** _Before we go any further, let's get some notes out the way. This one might get a bit darker than the others in places so if you ever think I need to bump up the rating to "M" just give us a shout. Credit goes to the writers (specifically Dwayne McDuffie and Bruce Timm) of the Justice League Unlimited cartoon for the very few scenes (ought to be only the one section right at the very start) lifted straight from that awesome show. And as usual, the disclaimer:_**

 ** _All characters, settings etc. that I have made up myself are mine. The rest, including Batman, Wonder Woman, Joker, et al are definitely not. Unfortunately…_**

 ** _Now, in what may (hopefully) be considered bad news for a lot of you here, I'm very seriously considering making this the last of these fanfics that I do. I'm not abandoning the fandom, not by any means, but the problem is time. There are other things that I want to do, things I can't do as much as I'd like if I'm devoting time to the weighty fanfics that I put out like this one. I promised to do this story so here it is, and I will 100% see it through no matter what, but chances are there won't be any more, despite having ideas in the bank to follow this one up for a long time after. What I will say is this though: coming back for more isn't_** **absolutely _ruled out as an option, it may just be that I take an extended break (more so than the one I've just had). And if you do want me to come back for more, there is one main way to try and make it happen: review, review and then review again! Get them flooding in guys, get that counter ticking well through the triple figures! I seriously can't get enough of them! Heck, if we can get near to hitting four figures there's no way I won't come back. That'd be amazing!_**

 ** _And now, without any_** **further _ado,_ Shadows in the Dark _begins. Strap yourself in friends. It's hopefully going to be one hell of a ride._**

* * *

"Did you like playing with my new Royal Flush Gang?"

"Can't say that I did."

"Yeah. They aren't any fun at all. I gave them their powers and they still hardly ever play with me."

"Can't imagine why."

"When I was little, Cadmus used to make me play all kinds of games, but they weren't any fun either. They'd strap me into machines and poke wires into my brain. Ace can you move this object with your mind? Yeah… I can move it. They weren't really games, you know. They were turning me into a weapon, for justice, they said. They got their weapon. I got cheated out of my childhood."

"I know what that's like."

"You do, don't you? You don't have to answer, I've read your mind. That's how I knew you weren't going to use Mrs. Waller's weapon on me."

"No. I wasn't."

"You were going to try and talk me into fixing what I've changed…before I die."

"Yes."

"I'm dying very soon."

"Yes. I'm sorry."

"Could you stay with me? I'm scared."

* * *

"He didn't move, didn't leave her. He stayed there, sat with her until the end, even after the world got put right. Stayed there until Ace just…stopped breathing. He held her too, like a parent would their child. Like in that moment she was the only person in the world that mattered. Despite everything that little girl had done, despite everything she _might_ have done, he did everything he possibly could to make her death easier on her. To make sure that even she had a friend right at the very end. When he went in there, we all thought that it was to kill her before she could do more damage. Instead, if anything, right at the end he saved her. He gave her just that hint of the love of a real childhood. It was… Well, it was _moving_ , actually. A side to him that the rest of us don't exactly get to see that often. Is that the Batman that you get to see when he finally puts his brooding exterior away?"

Diana didn't know whether to smile or cry. Shayera had been right. Wonder Woman had not been there on that mission, but just hearing the story of the girl Ace's death _was_ moving. Diana hadn't been there on the other Justice League mission involving that girl either, but she still knew that it was easily to be _put off_ by certain aspects of her personality. Given the girl's power too, it would have been easy to be scared of her and simply use the weapon designed to take her out. And yet Bruce had done no such thing. He had stood by his principles. He had utilised that very human heart that was publicly hidden away. Where for almost everyone else there would have only been the best of the bad options, Bruce had found a good one. He had found a way to help the troubled child as well as the world. He had done the right thing, the decent thing.

The _human_ thing.

Exactly the sort of thing that had made Diana truly fall in love with him. For such a warrior who spent so much of his life living in darkness, to hold onto that heart was incredible, especially given all the stories she had heard of Man's World during her life on Themyscira. This was a man who was truly remarkable, enhanced ever more by the fact that with all else stripped away he was just an ordinary man. An ordinary man truly deserving of an Amazon's love.

"It _might_ be," she replied, cryptically on the surface but laced with the right emphasis that her answer ought to have been very clear. She had finally conceded and let the smile grace her beautiful face. "But I don't think it's a side to him he really wants bandied about."

"Doesn't exactly go with his usual image, does it?" Shayera returned with a laugh of her own. The two of them were sat together, sat around on the Justice League's Watchtower. Together they were in an otherwise near deserted commissary. Shayera had just gotten back from the mission down on the Earth against the latest incarnation of the Royal Flush gang. Batman himself was still down there, but Shayera had not wasted any time in telling Diana what had happened. She was clearly quite in awe of what she had just witnessed down there. "Seriously, I don't know how you saw it through all those layers he puts up. Now that the two of you are actually together, I can admit that I thought you were mad when I first spotted that you had eyes for him."

"Everyone has _some_ good in them," Wonder Woman commented back, a point she firmly believed held true. Everyone. If it didn't then her mission of promoting the Themysciran ideals of peace was even further from success than she thought. "It's just a matter of looking for it. With all that he's done for the innocents below, it didn't take me long to find it in Bruce."

"I bet he's done plenty of _good_ for you too, hasn't he Princess?"

"Shayera!" Diana blurted out, hardly believing what she had just heard her friend say. She wasn't the naïve woman she had been when she had first arrived in Man's World. She now understood completely what Shayera was referring to. And she was sure that it was hardly the sort of thing that should be discussed this openly, even between friends. Shayera only smiled all the more.

"You'll learn to embrace the girl talk soon, Diana, trust me," she said through it, before slightly changing the subject. "So when are you going to see him again?"

* * *

She was beaming down virtually the moment she and Shayera had both left the commissary. It wasn't a prearranged meeting, but what she had just heard had inspired her to want to see him again as soon as she could. She had had Mr. Terrific send her right into the heart of the Batcave, certain that that would be where Bruce would be found. Sure enough, Diana had been right.

He was up there, still dressed in his cape and cowl, sat by the Batcomputer, typing away. He didn't turn around when she re-materialised, continuing on with his work. Wonder Woman was therefore left to move to him, noticing what it was Batman was working on as she did so. He was updating Ace's file. He was marking her as deceased.

And it was then that Diana noticed the mud layering his gauntlets, along with the shovel discarded not far away from his seat. It didn't take a genius to put those pieces together. Ace hadn't had a friend in the world. She had had no family, no one to mourn her, no one to miss her. She had had no one to bury her and see to it she passed on with respect. No one except the Batman, who had sat with her at the end.

Bruce's giant heart was on show all over again. There was no end to it. Neither was there any end to the amount of pride Diana felt for him right then, nor the amount of love.

She said nothing as she drew level with him, noticing then that his fingers had stopped typing on the keyboard. Gently she laid one soft hands on his caped shoulder, using it to spin him around to face her. For a moment they just stayed there, staring out at one another. His eyes were still shrouded behind the lenses of the cowl, beyond view. Yet Diana still felt she could see through them, through his eyes and into the very essence of the man below. More than that, she could just tell that Batman had read her too, that he knew she was proud of him for what he had done. That just made her smile all over again.

And then, with still not a word being said, she kissed him, and he returned it in full.

* * *

"So old Acey's bit the big one, eh? It's about time…"

"Yeah, she's deader than a _dead dodo_!" his partner quipped, laughing away as she did. He was definitely glad himself. Initially he had growled out the words, but laughter was great _and_ infectious. He couldn't resist joining in. However, every great joke had to have a great punchline, and they hadn't gotten that far through the gag just yet. There was still plenty of fun to be had. This was just an added bonus, a bonus that tied in _nicely_.

"Rewind the tape, Harley," he ordered when the laughter had finally stopped. He had been watching it pretty much non-stop since he had broken out of Arkham the latest time. It was everything, the key to his entire plan. The key to the greatest joke of his life. "I want to see it again while we're waiting for old Pengy to give us his answer."

"Right away, Mr. J," Harley chirped, immediately rushing off to hit the button on the remote. But his own eyes stayed on the screen were he had the footage being projected. It was only weeks since it had happened and the rest of the world may have become convinced that it was the side effects of their then efforts to save the world from a largely mental enemy, but he had seen through it. He had seen through the lies. He knew that it was for real. He knew that they really were a _duo._ Boy, was he going to make old Batsy regret letting that become public.

He munched down another handful of popcorn as he laid back to watch the footage play all over again. Footage of Batman and Wonder Woman, locked in a duel of the tongues.

Oh, yes. The Joker was going to have his fun.


	2. Chapter 1: The Bright Side of Life

**Chapter 1: The Bright Side of Life**

 ** _Two Months Later_**

It was a sombre place, but then it would be very strange if a place like this was anything but sombre. Graveyards weren't exactly a place for happiness and joy. They could be a place for memories of happier times perhaps, but the living were too busy feeling the grief to smile at them.

The bounding rains did not help the situation much. Even the weather was grim. The vast, grey overcoat kept her dry, though, with its hood and the shawl she wore protecting her head. On top of that, the dark glasses she was wearing meant her vision was not impaired at all. It all came together to help out as she fought on past the winds and the rain.

She arrived at the gravestone in no time. She had never actually been here before, not really, but she knew the place like the back of her hand, like she had visited this grave many, many times in her life. When she drew level she knelt by the headstone, in spite of the sodden, muddy ground beneath her. It was the best place to see as she stared at the names engraved up on there.

 _Thomas and Martha Wayne_.

"I don't know what the customs normally are in Man's World," she said as she knelt there, one single hand rested on the stone. It was an act that caused her sleeve to pull up her arm slightly, revealing a shiny, silver bracelet underneath. "And I don't exactly have much experience with the dead either. We Amazon's haven't suffered much loss since we were granted eternal life on Themyscira. But I recently… _lost_ a friend for the first time, so I'm beginning to understand the feelings. However, I still don't know if what I'm doing is right or not, but after the loss that was suffered I feel it's something I need to do. Something I've needed to do for a while now, actually."

Wonder Woman paused for a moment then, remembering. It had been several weeks, months even, since that day, the day she had forcibly experienced that fateful night from so long ago. She had been with Batman at the time, of course, caught up with him in a purely mental realm. It was a very strange place, but then nothing about that day had been normal. She and Bruce being temporarily given the others complete array of memories certainly came under the category of _abnormal_. Seeing all of Bruce's life hadn't exactly been pleasant. He was a great man, but he had experienced so much tragedy, so much hardship. The most heart-breaking of all, though, was the day that Thomas and Martha had been killed. At the time, Bruce had forced Diana to forget about it. They had been in the middle of a fight to save the world then, so she couldn't afford that distraction at that time.

But now, now that she had a chance, she simply had to pay her respects.

"My name's Diana. You don't know me. You never would have had the chance to. I've not lived in Man's World for long enough for that. But I've heard a lot about you. All of your son's closest friends have. He hasn't exactly told us, of course, but we know. We… _I_ know how good you both were, how much good you both did for this city, for Bruce. I… It sounds odd considering what happened to you both, but I just wanted to thank you for all the good that's happened in this world thanks to you. And I just wanted to tell you about your son. I never had the chance to know you, but I still know this. You would have been very proud of him."

Diana knew that, knew it with absolute certainty. Ever since she had first encountered Batman, she had seen just how much good he truly did. Even despite her upbringing and his gender, she had always viewed him as a true hero, from the very beginning. And she had only gotten to know him better since then. The Wayne's weren't the only ones with reasons to be proud. They weren't the only ones with a reason to love their son. Wonder Woman did too.

The feeling had been building in the background for years, but it was around twelve months ago when she had finally come to realise to what extent. At the time Batman had gone off on a solo campaign, doing so in a manner that had greatly worried Diana. She had tried to go after him, tried to help him, but he had managed to disappear to engage an alien foe from an entirely different dimension before she could reach him. Instead, she had found herself compelled to watch over Gotham for him, to protect what he cared about while he was gone, simply because she knew that he would want Gotham kept safe, no matter what. It was there that J'onn, having seen her thoughts, had forced her to see them too. J'onn had forced her to accept the truth. All that had gone on between them in the past, all her then current worries, it had all been because of love. It had all been because she was in love with Batman. Little had she known then that his cross-dimensional mission had had the same motivation. He had gone to fight an entire army that had been hopping the multiverse simply to find and kill her. He had risked his life against vast odds to save hers. All because he loved her too. Typically neither of them had been very good at voicing it, but one night in the Batcave, after Bruce had somehow managed to beat an army practically singlehandedly, Diana had confronted him. She had confessed her feelings, and she had needed to hear if he could do the same. That night proved how much he cared. For so long he had tried to keep her out for reasons only the Batman could give. That night, he had been able to do so no longer. That night, he had decided to let her in.

But despite those moments of joy, it had still taken plenty of time for things to develop. Batman could not change his ways that quickly. Letting someone in, truly loving someone, it was a risk for him. It was something that he had to learn how to handle. He had had to learn to love without losing anything that made him who he was, without losing any part of the Batman that was so vital to the healing of Gotham. And so he had gone away, alone, for eight long months, leaving Diana lying in wait on the Watchtower for his return. For his return to her, and whatever their future may hold. When that day had come, it had hardly been how Diana had dreamt it. But then again, it wasn't exactly how anyone would have wanted it either. Bruce had been forced back before he was truly ready. He had had to return to the Justice League because, once again, the world was in danger.

This time it had been the Imperium. Long thought dead, this bunch had somehow survived. It had turned out that they came from way back from when that race originally invaded Mars. They had technically died back then too, but something to do with Martian telepathy had kept their consciousnesses going within a being of almost pure energy. In search of their defeated leader, they had managed to control that being and bring it to the Earth. Upon learning what had happened to said leader, they had decided to destroy.

But they had reckoned without the Justice League, and the bunch of Martian survivors that had been discovered in that energy creature along with the Imperium. It was within that energy being that Bruce and Diana had shared their memories. They had even shared minds for a time, thoughts and feelings flowing between them without any kind of barriers. It had all been a part of saving the world. By joining minds in the way that they had, Batman and Wonder Woman had together managed to bring the Martian race back to life, defeat the Imperium and save the day. Damage had been done, but the planet had survived. There had been losses, but there had also been gains. For one, J'onn had gotten his people back. Ever since then he had been with them on Mars, helping them to rebuild their long lost civilisation. Such a thing had never been thought possible until then, but now it was just wondrous.

However, despite her great joy for her friend, it was another gain that meant the most to Wonder Woman. For once the Imperium had been defeated, she had truly gained Bruce. He had told her so himself, even inviting her into Gotham to do so. No more training, no more preparation, no more time away. From then on, he had been ready. And he had been hers. They were keeping it low key, keeping it between themselves and their closest friends for now, but from that moment all the years of attraction had come to a point. From that moment, Batman and Wonder Woman had truly come together.

The world had actually been caught up by the idea for a while, despite their private nature. As a part of defeating the Imperium there had been a moment where it had looked like neither of them would be making it out alive. As such, they had taken that moment to share a passionate kiss. They hadn't known it at the time, but the energy creature had wound up projecting the image of that kiss out for the whole world to see. Thanks to friends in the press, like a certain Lois Lane, the people had been convinced that the kiss was just a side effect of what Batman and Wonder Woman had put themselves through to defeat the energy cloud, that there was nothing romantic in it. Diana didn't like the fact that that version wasn't true, but it was necessary, if nothing else than to try and protect them both, to protect Bruce's identity. It had worked though. The people had believed the press. The world now believed there was nothing in that kiss. In reality though, it had meant everything.

In reality, there had been many more such kisses to follow.

During those moments of silence, Diana stopped to reach for something from within the confines of her heavy overcoat. The rains were still pouting, but the truth was that it wasn't the weather that had caused her to dress up like this. Her gods given durability meant she could stand the wind and the rain without them. No, the get up was to continue to keep the secret safe. It wouldn't do for anyone to spot the world famous Wonder Woman at the graves of Bruce Wayne's parents. There was one other purpose for the coat though. It was handy to protect other things from the environment on the way here, such as the roses Diana had just extracted and laid softly by the grand headstone.

"Bruce doesn't know that I'm here," Diana continued to speak once there was a rose resting beneath each of the two names. "I know he likes his solitude when he comes to see you and I respect that. But I still felt I had to come here myself, to tell you these things in case there is some way you can hear them from where you now reside. I'm sure you're both watching over him, if you can, and I'm sure you've seen for yourselves that everything which I've just said is more than true. But I still felt I had to say it. Your deaths hurt him deeper than I have ever seen anyone hurt, but despite all the layers he puts up to hide it he is still one of the most kind hearted, compassionate people on this Earth. That is a testament to the upbringing you gave him, and again I thank you for it. You must have both been truly wonderful parents. The good that you both inspired will live on for centuries thanks to him. And I whole-heartedly believe that that will ultimately make this world a better place. I wanted you both to know that, too."

Diana broke off again then. It was hard doing this, talking to a slab of carved rock. It was harder still picturing Thomas and Martha Wayne hearing all this, and how they would react. It was very true, she didn't really know them. But from everything that she had heard, she could put the pieces together. These were a very worthy couple, who were very sorely missed. That was why Diana had faith that the gods would be allowing them a blissful afterlife, and that such an afterlife would allow them both to hear what she was saying.

"I can't stay much longer," Diana resumed again a moment later. "I have… grown close to your son. Very close. And considering where I come from, that means a lot. I hope that I can prove to you that I'm worthy. I hope I can make him happy, as I'm sure you'd want. He is definitely deserving of that. I have to go and see him again. He'll be waking up soon after another busy night in Gotham, doing even more good as only he can. Yes, you'd probably be disappointed that he has to do things this way, but you would definitely be proud of him."

Finally, Diana stood at that, though she still stared down at the headstone. There was just one last thing to say before she went.

"Before I forget, you ought to be proud of Alfred too. It might not be why you hired him, but he's done a wonderful job raising Bruce. So thank you once again.

"For everything."

* * *

"Yeah, it's been great! I mean, this place isn't exactly Gotham, but you should have seen us last night. Those guys had no idea what hit 'em!"

"I'm glad you're enjoying your time in Bludhaven, Tim, but this isn't really the best time," Bruce growled down the phone. It was around midday by then. Truth be told, though, Bruce hadn't been awake for very long. He had been up all night working. He hadn't been as active in Gotham lately as he would have liked. He was too busy getting caught up in League business too often these days. Considering that so often meant saving the world he could put up with it, so long as Gotham was staying safe at the same time, so long as he maintained some sort of vigil there. That meant that if he couldn't be there himself, someone else had to be covering for him. That usually fell on Tim and Barbara, and while they were doing the best they could, Gotham was a beast that no one could tame. Only the Batman could come close to truly handling it. That was why last night had been such a busy one. The first night free of League business that he had had in a while, Batman had had a lot of catching up to do, a lot of cracks to fill that Robin and Batgirl had missed. A lot of murderers and scumbags to bring to justice. All this time and there was still no sign of Gotham getting better. Not for good, anyway.

"Yeah, there was this one guy… Dick! Dick, what did you say he was called? What was his name again…?"

"Desmond. Roland Desmond," Dick Grayson's voice sounded out in the background. It sounded like he was fighting off a fit of laughter, clearly at Bruce's current discomfort. Tim just seemed to be too excited to notice that Bruce wasn't in a position or mood to hear about his adventures.

Tim had gone to Bludhaven around this time the day before. It was something he had been wanting to do ever since Dick had moved back there. Robin and Nightwing had become close during Dick's temporary move back to Gotham. It wasn't something he could do before, not with Batman needing Robin where he was while he was busy himself with the League. Now that was changed, and Bruce had allowed Tim some time off. He had headed off to Bludhaven to visit Dick immediately, but hadn't neglected to take his Robin outfit with him. Now he had rung up to recount the story of his first day there, very excitably. Alfred had been more than ready to hand Bruce the phone when he had picked it up, before quickly shuffling off claiming he had some urgent dusting to do.

"Yeah, yeah, Desmond, that's it! Yeah, he was tough, but Nightwing and I taught him a real lesson!" Tim went on, not noticing the laughter in Dick's voice either. "Boy, you should have seen it Bruce! We were just like Batman in his prime. Err… Not that you're not still in your prime, of course…"

"It's alright Tim, I know what you meant," Bruce quickly cut in when he could tell Tim was digging himself into a hole. Thankfully, though, it was then that the sound rang out throughout the Manor, a sound that brought Alfred shuffling back through to the lounge from the library he had been working in beyond it, the duster still as firmly clamped in his hand as the smile was on his face at the situation he had left Bruce in.

"Someone at the door, Sir," Alfred stated what Bruce already knew. "I'll just go and see who that is."

"No need, Alfred," Bruce quickly said before the butler could move away. This was his chance and he was going to take it. "I suspect I know who it is already. I'll get it. Besides, I'm sure Tim would love to tell you all about his encounter with this Desmond fellow."

"Yeah! Alfred'll love it!" Tim's voice barked out of the phone, loud enough that Alfred clearly heard it. The silent look of terror that erupted on the butler's face made Bruce laugh. The resigned look that followed as the frozen butler had the phone thrust in his hands even more so, meaning Bruce was chuckling on his way out of the room and all the way down to the front door. Hearing Alfred sigh and then ask Tim about his night as only a proper English gentleman could just made that revenge victory all the sweeter.

There was another knock at the door just as Bruce pulled level with it, stopping shortly before he heaved the entrance to Wayne Manor open. A lone person stood beyond the threshold, sheltering from the pouring rains of the day under the alcove of the entranceway. Sure enough, it was exactly who Bruce was expecting it to be, and she didn't wait to be invited before wandering in to the warmth.

"Now this won't do," Bruce muttered as he pushed the door to behind her, looking her up and down.

This was certainly an odd moment. He still wasn't used to feeling like this, to letting humour and light-heartedness seep into him. For a long time Alfred was the only one who could bring it out in him, but not like this. Not like she could. No one could make him feel as happy as she did. That could often be a problem, a problem he had trained himself to fight. But right now, in his home and away from the mission, he had also trained himself to learn how to _not_ fight it. For her.

He glanced Wonder Woman up and down as she stood there in front of him again. There was a look of bewilderment on her face, clearly not knowing what he was talking about. A simple, raised, _perfect_ eyebrow was enough for him to understand he was being questioned.

"The get up," Bruce answered her, gesturing to the big overcoat, shawl and shades she had on. He had to admit, it covered her up pretty well. Her idea of keeping herself covered, of course, and without a good, close look no one would be able to tell that it was really Wonder Woman under all that. Still… "Princess, this won't do at all. We can't have you buried away under all of that. I'm definitely going to have to hurry up and figure out how Kent gets away without hiding his face in the real world. That way we can teach you the same trick. You're far too beautiful to be covered up like this."

"Says the handsome man who prefers to only show the world his jaw." Diana's response was sharp and to the point, but was also said with a wide smile of her own. A seductive one at that. It only made Bruce feel even happier.

"Come on, in all seriousness let's get you out of those wet clothes," he said through his own grin. A genuine one at that, rather than the much viewed playboy smirk. "Alfred would kill me if I left a lady in this state. And he'd kill you if you started dripping filthy water all over his nice clean floors."

"Oh, I believe you on that one," Diana replied, quickly taking off the get up and handing it to Bruce to hang-up on the rack by the door. That left her standing there wearing typical, everyday clothing, the kind of thing that any woman on the street might wear. Still, no one could wear it anywhere near as well as she did. As far as Bruce was concerned, no matter what she had on Diana was by far the most beautiful thing to ever walk the Earth. And he had seen many of the contenders up close in his time. "Give me Circe, Hades, Cheetah and Ares any day over an angry Alfred. _That_ I don't think I ever want to see."

"Trust me, you really don't," Bruce said back again, still with that smile. "Where have you been anyway? If I'd known you were going to wander off, I'd have gotten you your own key."

"The power of entrance to your home _and_ the Batcave? Bruce, that _is_ trust," Diana joked, though Bruce hadn't been. He was serious. Deadly serious. It had taken an awful lot for him to let her in like this. An _awful_ lot. And now that she was in, he didn't ever want to let her go. Luckily, for _whatever_ reason she felt him worthy, Diana seemed to return that sentiment. "I just had a quick errand to run, but it's all done now. I did what I had to do."

An errand. An errand out here, on the outskirts of Gotham city, for an immortal Princess from a paradise. Something she had needed to do. Bruce could think of plenty of possibilities, but the vast majority didn't really make sense to him. Ultimately, his mind just kept going back to a lone option. An option he knew Diana had thought about ever since the Imperium's second defeat, but one she had always held back from. It was also an option that he was very grateful she hadn't just bluntly said aloud. No matter how much he let her in, _that_ was not something he would feel comfortable talking about openly. Still, he was grateful. He may have asked her not to before, but it actually meant a lot to him that she had ignored that request. It meant a lot to him that she had chosen to pay her respects to his parents.

A soft kiss to Diana's still damp forehead showed off that appreciation. No words needed to be said, nor did he feel like saying any in that moment. After that he took her by the hand, leading her away. He wasn't sure where he was actually headed, but it was more symbolic than anything. It was his way of saying once again that Diana was more than welcome in his home. He was relieved – just as he had been every time before – that Diana gladly took his hand in return and followed him inside.

"So what's the next part of your master plan?" Diana broke the silence that had fallen around them several steps later, looking up at him with a kind of longing look in her brilliant blue eyes. "I did ask Mr. Terrific to try and keep me off active duty for _two_ days after all."

Diana smiled a wickedly flirtatious smile at the end of that sentence. Bruce couldn't help but buckle into another smile of his own at the sight of it. He may have been keeping himself busy as Batman once the sun went down, but one of the advantages of being a billionaire playboy with his reputation was that he could make the day time his own whenever he wanted to. Normally he had no particular reason to do that, unless it was Batman-related work. Now he did have a reason. Now he had Diana.

Yesterday had been the latest such day of several. Whenever both Bruce and Diana had managed to have a day when the world didn't need them, they were taking that day for themselves. Bruce was organiser of course. He knew full well that Diana had a desire to truly see the world, the world beyond the paradise that was all she had known growing up and the world beyond the battlefields she saw with the League. Of course, that included the real "Man's World", the cities teeming with people and life. Unfortunately, he had not yet sorted out how they could get away with that without everyone spotting Bruce Wayne and Wonder Woman being together. But that didn't mean he couldn't show her the rest, the parts where they could be alone and enjoy the world together, with no one but each other for company.

But yesterday, yesterday had been more than just that. After another day of globetrotting, they had returned to Wayne Manor together, arm in arm as they were now. But what happened next Bruce had not expected. It was certainly something he had thought about, something he had _dreamed_ about, something that he wanted. But it wasn't something that he pressed for, wasn't even something that he _asked_ for, not yet. He respected Diana too much for that, respected her feminist ideals and her choices in life. However, last night Bruce found out just how much life off the island had tainted Diana's innocence. Last night, she had instigated one of the best nights of Bruce's life.

There was no possible denying it after that. Bruce and Diana really were together now in every sense of the word.

Of course, even after _that_ Bruce hadn't been able to rest easy. Gotham had still needed him. Thankfully, Diana understood. She would always understand, and she would never complain, never ask him to stop. She had only told him to return to her safely before he had set off to the cave and then into the Gotham night. The Batman had been fighting crime while the Princess slept. She had still been sleeping when Bruce had gotten home. He couldn't resist it. For a long time he had just sat in the armchair beside his king-sized bed, watching her sleep. He had done so until he had fallen asleep himself, still sat in the chair. When he woke up, Diana was gone. Now he knew where she had gone to. More importantly, now she had come back.

Almost as if she was starting to feel at home here in the Manor…

"Whoever said there was a plan?" Bruce smirked back down at Diana. "I've just been making it up as I go along. A fight I can plan for, a deadly operation against all manner of foes I can plan for, complex multinational business management I can plan for. _Space station designs_ I can plan out. But women, even the most perfect one alive? Not even I stand a chance of successfully planning that one, not if I'm doing it _right_. You're all far too mysterious for that."

Diana's mouth dropped open in shock then as she slapped him on the shoulder. It was playful of course. She knew that he was teasing her. But that didn't mean the strike wasn't still hard.

"You just watch yourself," she said as Bruce continued to smile, rubbing at his now hurting shoulder. "I might be so mysterious that I start planning all sorts of ways to punish you for comments like that one. Especially now that I have all sorts of new ways to do so."

"You wouldn't dare!" Bruce pretended to be startled in fear. It was a spot of playacting that made Diana laugh again. And, so long as he wasn't draped in the cowl, Bruce couldn't resist her infectious mood. A faint hint of laughter was soon erupting from him too.

At least, it was until the tell-tale sound of a signalling Justice League communicator sounded. A signal clearly issued to both of them.

"Batman, Wonder Woman, it's Mr Terrific," the voice was soon speaking out from their devices. "I know I promised you both some time off, but we need you. There's a tip I don't like the sound of, a tip about some old friends that I would feel much more comfortable if we could put a bunch of our big guns on. Superman and Flash are both finishing up elsewhere, but I'd sure like to give GL and Shayera some help on this one if the tip comes good. I'm sure the public would want to know we have our best on this one too, especially considering who it is we're getting warned about. I'm sorry to cut short you're time off, but I want you up here on standby, ready to act on a moment's notice."

"Understood, Michael," Diana spoke into her comm, answering far more readily and diplomatically than Bruce felt like doing. His instinctive answer was much _curter_. "Give us a minute and we'll teleport up."

"Copy that," Mr. Terrific's voice replied. "See you soon."

With that the comm clicked off. Diana immediately looked up at Bruce, whose face had uncontrollably dropped to show his disappointment.

"Duty calls," Diana merely said, knowing that it was enough but that Bruce just needed to hear her say it.

"Fine," Bruce gave in after only a second, his voice already starting to drop into the famous Batman growl. Duty called indeed. He had his focus back in place, his sense of mission overriding all of his other wishes. "But I'm back to Gotham tonight. I still have work to do here."

"Deal," Diana said back, still with that wonderful smile of hers. "And hopefully we can be done in time to savour the rest of the day too. As for now though, you'd best go suit up."

Bruce nodded, already mentally crossing the Manor halls for the study and the grandfather clock that hid the primary entrance to the Batcave. "You might want to think about doing so yourself, Princess."

"Oh, I've got that covered." She took a step back away from Bruce then, clearly making room. And then she began to spin, twirling on the spot, faster and faster until she was almost a blur. Barely a second later, though, she was slowing down. Before Bruce knew it, the civilian attired Diana was once again the armoured Wonder Woman. Damn, sometimes Bruce really hated metas. Or at least he would normally, but he could never hate this one.

"I'll be in the cave," Batman growled again. "Some of us need time to change."

The irony of those words wasn't lost on Bruce, the aptness. He had certainly needed time to change, to learn to love, to learn to let her in. But he had managed it. Against all the odds, he had allowed himself to be happy, all thanks to her. It had just taken him time to get there. Clearly Diana didn't miss the second meaning of his words either.

"Don't I just know it. But in the end, that's not always so bad. Not when the end results turn out to be so worthwhile."

She smiled again then, and even with his mind set altering, Bruce still couldn't resist joining in. Damn she was perfect. She was right too. A return to Gotham wasn't the only reason to hope that whatever Mister Terrific needed them for wouldn't take too long. Now that he had let her in, Bruce just couldn't be around her enough.

So he could only hope that tonight was not going to be one hell of a long night. Little could he know just how little that hope would pan out.

* * *

 _ **A/N:**_

 _ **So. It's kicked off properly now then! Here's Chapter 1, and from the reactions I was hearing from that simple, little Prologue, I imagine this was something a lot of you wanted to see (I hope so anyway!).**_

 _ **And at this point, I remind you of the note I put in the Prologue; please review and keep on reviewing what I do, both this story and the old ones, especially if you don't want me to "retire" from Justice League fanfiction when this story is finally done - although that'll be a good while yet, this one's pretty big!**_

 _ **I've a second point to also raise now, as a promise to an old friend. Similar to how I'm seriously thinking of moving away from these fanfics when this one is done for what is purely time-related reasons, by buddy Enter Your Desired Username is doing likewise. Except unlike me, he's leaving stories unfinished. But there is good news. He's made them available for other people to take over by PMing him and requesting the honour. I believe one of them is already claimed, but if you fancy writing a good story and don't have the idea of your own, I heartilly recommend giving EDN a shout. If you can't find him, he has reviewed this one already. After all, he's such a sweetie...**_

 _ **Oh, and of course, as I've said many times in the past, I have what could only be scientifically described as a "shitload" of Justice League story ideas to expand and build on the Clownverse for all sorts of characters, so if you wanted one of mine instead of one of EDNs, they're available too. Just let me know in your review/a PM.**_

 _ **Should also say that I ran a little competition on this Chapter that a lot of you probably won't have known about, but was advertised on the BatmanWonderWoman (dot com) site forum. I may well do more in future, or drop info snippets and things over there. And even if you don't care about stuff like that, you're more than likely in that fandom if you're reading this, so there's bound to be something on that site to peak your interests. So I hope to see you there as well!**_

 _ **And with all that said, its time for me to crawl back to my ManCave and get the next Chapters sorted out. Same you roughly this time next week. Same Bat-Time, same Bat-Chanel!**_


	3. Chapter 2: Groundwork

**Chapter 2: Groundwork**

The bus rolled through the puddles up to its next stop, the latest passenger clambering off the instant that it halted. Luckily for her, the rains chose that moment to take a pause in pouring down relentlessly on the streets. Nevertheless, she was still a bit slow down those few steps of the bus. It was because she took the steps with the same awkward shuffle as all the other ones had before her, entirely due to the pack she carried on her back and its effect in weighing her down. Regardless, she was quickly disappearing into the night without any kind of a "thank you" to the bus driver. Likewise, the bus itself was soon setting back off on its journey through the winding, midday roads of Gotham City.

To all outside eyes, there would be nothing special about this bus, nothing to set it apart. To outside eyes, it would just look like a regular bus stopping at regular points, travelling on its regular route. Only this bus was far from regular. And this was far from a regular route.

And the stops it would ultimately be providing were a lot more _permanent_.

More than once since it had set off the driver had had to turn away prospective passengers. Many people had been waiting at the various stops, expecting this to be the usual service. The driver had always been quick to fob them off, telling them the cover story as firmly as he could; that he wasn't picking up any passengers and was instead only dropping off staff from the bus company as part of a training course. It didn't matter to him if those prospective passengers got annoyed, that they threatened to complain. It didn't matter what they did. This was Gotham City. _Everyone_ complained. No one would give a damn. No one would spot the truth until it was far too late. So all that mattered was that those people did not get on the bus.

They wouldn't have been taken to where they wanted to go if they had. In fact, they probably wouldn't have lived long enough to go anywhere at all. The other passengers would have seen to that. They all had their anonymity to protect. The bus driver himself was perfectly non-descript. That was why he was chosen to sit in the hot seat, front and centre for the eyes of any and all witnesses. No one would be able to successfully identify him to the cops, not having an eidetic memory. He just blended in to the background too down well. The chances of these Gotham scroungers being that smart weren't exactly high. And the bus driver didn't have any friends to bump into and blow his secret. There was no way that he would face any retribution. When this job was done, he'd be walking away scot free, as a very wealthy man.

He didn't have to be psychic to know that the others on the bus were all thinking along similar lines. The same could be said for his departed passengers to. They would all be thinking of the endgame, and of their bank accounts when they got there. But of course, that meant they also had to focus on what they were doing. They all had their individual roles in this, and they all had the training and professionalism to see those roles through. There was all sorts of people amongst them. Young and old, men and women, slim and obese. All hired because they didn't look like they were a bunch of assassins trailing the city and preparing for what was to come.

But really, that was exactly what they were.

A plan was in motion, and they had all been hired to bring it about. Someone dearly wanted the people of Gotham to suffer. Who exactly that person was was still a mystery, but the bus driver could have made a few guesses. If he really cared, that was. He and all of the others had been hired by a middle man, yet there were plenty of freaks and nut jobs around Gotham City to want their kind of services. It was just a matter of which one of those freaks it was this time. However, so long as the money was good, finding out who that someone was was completely irrelevant.

As ever, it was all about the money. Let the freaks have their agendas. Let he and the other mercenaries have their cash.

And so they would all do their job. Each one of them, or in some cases each group of them, had been given their own individually tailored target, ranging from the socialites to the homeless, the smart to the stupid, the worthy to the random. Those packs each of the passengers carried on their backs hid their weapons. They had all sorts in there, anything from a disassembled sniper rifle to explosives to disguises. They each had whatever they might need to get their particular job done according to the precise specs they were all given before getting on the bus. They all had a very specific task, each and every one of them.

A series of tasks worthy of the reaper himself.

Those targets were spread all over the city, hence the need for this covert transportation. On top of that, the assassins were all under strict orders. They were not to make their hit until their assigned moments. They were not to act early or rashly. Whoever hired them clearly had a wider plan in mind that they didn't want put at risk. It had been made blatantly clear. Anyone breaks that order, and _all_ the assassins go unpaid. Unless, that was, the rogue assassin was killed by the rest. The perfect way of keeping a squad of hired guns in line; either they comply, or lose the two things they actually cared about. Their money and their lives.

The people who had started out on the bus weren't the only ones in on the plan either. They had another group out there, including the guy who handled sorting the plans out with the middleman. As the bus approached a red light on its way to the next stop, the driver knew to look out for the other group of mercenaries. This was a kind of checkpoint, a place for the driver to confirm there was no problems dispatching his side of the crew. Sure enough, the organiser was in place, exactly where he should be, the driver being sure to catch his eye.

The middle of this road was cordoned off, high visibility barriers surrounding the central manhole cover. That was all opened up, several workmen clearly down there, busily doing their jobs. Once again, it was something that would appear completely normal and innocent to any observing bystander. However, the bus driver knew different.

This wasn't only an assassination job. This was designed to be a lot bigger than that. Those weren't traditional workmen down there in that hole. Neither were the scores of other ones who had set up similar stations that day under the streets of Gotham. No, those people down there were all far more concerned with destruction than maintenance.

They were all there to plant the bombs.

The bus came to a steady halt at the red light. Subtly the driver turned to look down towards the cordoned off zone that was now right beside the vehicle. It was enough to catch the eye of the one man sat up there in the open air, dressed up like a construction worker and looking like he was on his coffee break. It was the exact man that the bus driver had been looking out for, alright.

That was all he needed to know. Gently, the bus driver nodded his head. The other man did likewise to confirm that the message was received and understood.

That was the entirety of the exchange. As soon as the light went green, the bus was on its way again, ready to drop of the rest of its passengers to the right positions, doing so without giving a hint that there was anything out of the ordinary. Now wasn't the time to start playing their hand. As ever, Gotham would have to wait for nightfall before the real fun would begin.

It didn't take a genius to work out that whoever was behind this whole thing was doing so to get the Bat's attention. By the time they had it, though, the bus driver's job would be long done. He would be gone, sat with his feet up while waiting on the others to finish up so that he could get paid. And he would be getting out of the city fast, too. That way he would not have the Bat to worry about, and he also could avoid getting caught up in the hell that was about to befall this place.

Whether he did or not, though, was still to be seen. Whether all of his compatriots hit their targets was to be discovered. Either way, there was no going back now.

Tonight was going to be one hell of a night for Gotham City.

* * *

The man in the pit registered the bus driver's signal. Everything was going smoothly so far; that was what he had silently said. Things were the same under the streets. The damn fools of this city hadn't questioned why there were suddenly all sorts of road works being put up without warning. They were all too used to the city throwing these things upon them to realise that anything was wrong now. They would all be paying later for that one.

He didn't know if the bombs his boys were planting down below would actually be blown tonight. He also didn't care. They were there, they were set, and making sure that happened was his entire job. It was whoever had hired them to do this that had the trigger, and so it was on them to pull it. All he wanted was to be sure he was far enough away if and when that time came. The rest of this city could burn for all he cared, if that was what the guy paying them wanted.

And from what little he knew, it sounded like that was indeed what that guy wanted.

Looking down into the hole at his feet, he could see his crew still at work. They were almost done down there. From what he had heard from the other crews all across Gotham, they were all almost there too. It was time to call it in. The middleman who had set them up with this job needed to be told.

He drew out his radio, looking no different from a standard foreman at a standard set of roadworks as he did so. Just in case, he was also careful to ensure the frequency on that radio was perfectly tuned. He may look the part, but this had to stay on the secured channel, a line well and truly scrambled from any prying ears. The key to this entire mission – or the phase he was involved in, at least – was surprise. It was imperative that the authorities, official or otherwise, didn't find out about this until it was too late.

Once he was satisfied, he had his radio activated. Even then he was careful not to be overhead. He alone knew who the middleman was, the one who had hired them all for whoever's plan this really was. And he had been told that things were to stay that way. Deniability had become the middleman's way of life. He wanted to absolutely minimise the risk of any part of this being traced back to him. God help anyone who risked that deniability. The man at the pit didn't want to be the one finding out exactly what fate awaited such a person. Just thinking of the possibilities was bad enough.

The crackle of static sung out from the device, coming at the same moment that he satisfied himself that no-one was listening in. The next moment, he hit the button to send.

"This is Ottman, reporting in," he declared his name to make sure the middleman would listen. Having to do so was just another reason to avoid being overheard. The man, Ottman, didn't exactly want to get linked to this thing when it was done, either. Even more so than the middleman, perhaps. He just hadn't the brutal reputation to make sure people stayed quiet as the man on the other end of the line did. "I've just heard from the bus. The teams are all getting into position. As are the surprises. Everything is still going just the way you wanted it, Mr. Cobblepot."

* * *

"Very good work, my fine, felonious friend," Oswald Chesterfield Cobblepot, the man more commonly known and feared as the Penguin, squawked down the radio. He had just received the word. The plan to terrorise Gotham was well and truly in place, just as desired. "Inform me again once the task is finalised. Only once the task is satisfactorily complete shall the transfer of payment be made."

"Understood Mr. Cobblepot," the voice of Grant Ottman replied through the device. He was an able man. He had used him before. The fact that he was using him again spoke volumes. No one lets down the Penguin without facing the consequences. "Don't worry, sir. You're financier will be more than happy with the work. Your commission will be more than safe. You might want to make sure they've got their money ready on the table for us. For _all_ of us."

"Indeed so," Penguin thoughtfully returned. He certainly enjoyed the prospect of enriching his bank accounts. This job that he had taken on, though, went beyond that. Gotham was a bird with many feathers to pluck, and there was no one with a better mastery of aviary creatures than the Penguin. "See to it that all of your troop of fellows remember that litany too. Complete your task, Master Ottman. Then return to the Iceberg Lounge to finalise our transaction."

"Message received, Sir," Ottman signalled back. "I'll get back to work. Making sure the boys and girls don't step out of line."

"Be sure than you do, son. Be sure that you do."

With that, the Penguin disconnected the signal issuing from his transmitter, cutting the link to Ottman in the field. It was not long before he was conversing with someone else, however.

"You sure it's smart to not tell them, boss?"

"Cornelius, my friend, I fear you are not in possession of the mental superiority to decide what is smart and what is not," Penguin answered the speaker. He didn't turn to face them straight away. Instead, he was very slow and precise in returning the radio to its position on his desk, straightening up his already pristine suit and tie. He even waited long enough to ensure his monocle was properly clean before he finally turned to face the man stood in his office alongside him.

The other male was a brute of a man. Most stood tall over the Penguin, but this man genuinely towered above him. Cornelius Maine was his name, but "brute" was indeed the best description of him. He was a typical henchman, a mass of bulk that could strike fear into most simply with a flex of his thick muscles. How successful he was at utilising those muscles, Penguin was careful not to know first-hand. He had done more than enough time in Stonegate Penitentiary. There was no sense in risking going back there, especially just to witness an act of hooliganism. His orders were never explicit either, always suggestive. Cornelius was definitely not a smart man. In fact, he was downright stupid. But he was smart enough to understand what the Penguin wanted to happen without needing to hear the exact words. The rumours of mutilations, smuggling and death all reached Penguin's ears, just as the profits of such acts had reached his pockets.

"But Mr. Penguin, promising an army of mercenaries a tonne of cash we don't have isn't going to do great things for our street rep," Cornelius argued his point with his thick drawl. No, not argued. He was also smart enough to not do that, not when Penguin's position was clear. "We don't want folks to say we don't honour our debts, do we? Not in this business we're in. And that guy outside, the one we're doin' all this for, he hasn't got a dime on him."

"Indeed we do not," Penguin concurred, at least in part. "However, there is more going on here than you understand, more in my plan than I have let you know. We shall fund the mercenaries we respect ourselves. The rest, the ones who do not live up to expectations, those are the ones we sacrifice. I'm sure the good Commissioner would love to get his hands on them. He will be most unfortunate to find they know nothing however. Provided he survives this day, that is."

"But won't that damage our rep too? Who are we going to be able to bring in for jobs like this next time if people now we sell out to the cops?"

"My boy, at the end of this day, everyone will know that Penguin lays roost as ruler this town. Whatever anyone wants, Penguin's will be the place to get it. The _only_ place. Mark my words, when the sun rises tomorrow, our reputation among the community we are engaged within shall be doing nothing but skyrocketing."

"If you say so boss," Cornelius said, scratching at his bald, black head, sounding utterly unconvinced and also more than slightly confused. "What do you want to do about our guest in the meantime? He's still sat out in the Lounge, meaning we can't get any customers in without people seeing who we associate with. You want me to hide him round the back? Or even throw him out? I'd be happy to see the back of that loon."

"A sentiment shared by many, I believe, but it is not one that I can echo at this stage of our quest," Penguin answered again.

His words hadn't told the whole picture. He too wanted rid of their guest. He had dealt with the man before, but this was not a predictable man. It was not a man who could be bought or bargained with. It was not a man of class. He just happened to delve into work in a similar profession. No. More accurately, he just shared a common foe. Nothing could bring two criminals together better than that. In fact, if not for that foe, Penguin knew that now would be the time for Cornelius to be putting his skills to use once again.

"No, for now we still need him. Once events tonight have unfolded further that may change. Do not be naïve enough to feel that what we do tonight is beyond defeat, my lad. I have dealt in this city for long enough to have learned that. But while the plan is the sole endgame for our guest, we have two. Either the plan pays off and we truly take control of this rotten city, or the meddlesome rodent wins again, in which case we will see the end of the clown for good. Now come, Cornelius. Let us ensure our guest is sitting comfortably. I'd hate for his patience to begin wearing thin. I've just had the Iceberg Lounge expensively refurbished. Knowing what he's like, he will destroy it all just for fun if we do not stop him. And I doubt the Joker would ever accept a bill to repair the damage."

* * *

"How long we gonna have to just sit around here like this? What's taking so long? This is _boring_ me…"

"Sit still, Harley!" the Joker snarled at her across their table. Harley Quinn did as she was told. She didn't want to be upsetting her Mister J tonight. Well, she didn't want to any night, but tonight was special. Tonight was the Joker's night. His ultimate gag. Tonight was the accumulation of all the Joker had ever done. Harley Quinn certainly wanted to be a part of that, for her pudding' if for nothing else. "Nothing can happen until dusk anyway. Find some way to distract yourself, will you! _I'll_ decide when Penguin's taking too long!"

 _No one_ had seen more of the Joker than Harley Quinn. Literally. So she ought to know the kind of mood swings he could have better than anyone else. He could go from uncontrollable laughter to homicidal anger quicker than anyone else could bat an eyelash. Probably the wrong analogy considering its wording, but Harley was still wary of its message. The Joker wasn't laughing right now. It wasn't the time to muck about around him. Not even she could be guaranteed as safe from him, not under the right circumstances. Or was that the _wrong_ ones?

Joker's eyes had gone back down to the table. His face was leant against an upright fist, the fingers of his other hand drumming away as if trying to dig their way through. He was clearly lost in thought, probably planning away. Never had Harley seen the Joker so determined, so desperate to get something right. Normally it was all just a laugh, with changes and improv just a part of the fun. This time, it was everything to him.

Other than them, the Iceberg Lounge was empty. The Penguin hadn't taken too much convincing to shut it down for the night. Joker wasn't alone in wanting to see the end of the Bat. The others may not care for the full extent of the plan, but it was a plan that could truly harm Batman. _That_ even the "legitimate" Penguin had wanted to be a part of. He had readily agreed to help arrange for as many mercenaries and weapons that the Joker might need. Now the bird was up in his office, sorting those mercs out. As for Penguin's own goons, none of them had wanted to be in the same room as the Joker, even if they did have plenty of pounds of muscle on him. Of course, though, there was one other group in the Lounge who hadn't stayed away.

"Shut those damn things up would you!" Joker screamed out again as Penguin's pet seals continued to make a ruckus from the central pool. Harley had certainly heard and noticed the arctic creatures earlier, but she had managed to ignore them all the time since they had got here. It wasn't anything personal about those guys, they just reminded Harley too much about her babies. Bud and Lou, the hyenas she cared for more than anything but the Joker, were far more than any pet. But they had been taken away from her. The last time that both she and Mister J were in the nuthouse, their batch of hired thugs at the time had gone and let the authorities take the hyenas away, whisking them off to who knows where. After making those goons pay, Harley had tried to track her babies down, but all to no avail. They could just be in some zoo somewhere, rotting away and forced to lose all the laughter from their lives being nothing more than a piece of show and tell, for all Harley knew. Such thoughts made her sick to her bones. And once again it was all the Bat's fault. Just another reason why tonight was so important. For now though, dealing with these seals certainly had a certain appeal to her. Any excuse to remove such an unpleasant reminder.

"Anything you say, Puddin'," Harley quipped as she got up from the table.

She knew the Joker's attention stayed fixed on the table as she went, but it didn't matter. She was doing something that'd make him happy. That was all that mattered. The pool wasn't far away but by the time she got there Harley had her blade drawn. She had many more fun weapons, but this one would do the job. There was one of those seals perched right up near the public gallery. He was the noisiest of the lot too. He'd be the one that she would quieten down then. He was looking up at her with puppy dog eyes as soon as she drew near. To anyone else it might be viewed as cute. To Harley it just made her want to deal with the seal all the more. Mistah J's puppy eyes were far more effective than those, and the damn thing was just sitting there staring up at her. Harley raised her knife, ready to plunge it in.

"There will be no need for that, my dear, nor would it be advisable for you to act in such a crude manner."

The voice had spoken from somewhere behind her, but it certainly wasn't Joker speaking. Harley spun around, the knife still in her hand as opposed to the seal's throat. Even the animals, though, had shut up at the new arrival in the room.

"Pengy, old pal!" the Joker joyously shouted, leaping up to his feet with arms thrown wide at the sight of the Penguin walking towards him. _Waddling_ towards them. His mood had certainly just swung again now. "How long has it been? I haven't seen you in ages!"

"I fear your efforts at tomfoolery are wasted, Joker," the Penguin dryly responded. By then the rotund man had arrived at the Joker's table, with his hulking bodyguard right behind him. Harley noticed the umbrella in Penguin's hands, currently being used practically as a cane. Joker didn't seem to care about the potential weapon, though, so Harley didn't either. "An absence of minutes is hardly worth notice."

"That long?" Joker ignored Penguin's words, continuing with his mockery. Harley fought off a laugh. "And you didn't call? You didn't write?"

Penguin had clearly had enough already. He changed tack, ignoring Joker's japes instead of rising to them. "I have just heard from our people working on setting up our efforts in Gotham. Things are going as we wanted. By the time you intend to kick start the bloodshed, everything shall be in place."

Joker didn't mock this time. Instead he laughed, an initial outburst of "Ha!" becoming a machine gun of guffaws. Harley could only stare at him and smile. He was so dreamy.

"And old Batsy still has no idea!" Joker finally managed to say through it all. "This is too perfect! It's too funny!"

"I know I have asked this before, but pray tell my comedic comrade, how do you know what the flying rodent is up to? How do you know that he is not watching us as we speak?" Penguin had indeed asked that before. He had been very curious, especially since he had only been told a part of the plan. In fact, even Harley didn't know the whole thing. The Joker was playing a lot of cards close to his chest, with a couple of others up his sleeves. But Harley knew to trust in Joker's decision. Penguin should learn to do the same.

"Hey!" she snapped at him to make that point. "Mistah J doesn't have to give you all of our secrets!" Do ya puddin'?"

"Now, _now_ , Harley, Pengy's a friend today," Joker chided her, though his voice had maintained his happier tone. He quickly addressed the short, fat man again after that. "We're watching him. At all times when he's up with the Justice _Dweebs_. Right now he's off playing with those _superfriends_ of his. We made sure before we came here that some of their _superfoes_ got loose and starting distracting him, far away from here. Batsy _couldn't resist_ playing the hero again. He's half way around the world right now. And when he was here, he didn't get close enough to any of our boys to interrogate them with any of that _infuriating_ Bat-charm! In short, _he hasn't a clue_ what we're up to. He doesn't know what's happening right in his city, and he won't find out until we want him too. And by then it'll be _too late_ for him! Ha! Ha ha _hehehe_ ha ha he! Oh yes! Tonight, Pengy. Tonight is the night the Bat falls!"

It was uncontrollable then. It had almost happened halfway through but now it definitely did. The Joker burst into laughter. Maniacal, loud, unending. Infectious. Harley was soon joining in too. Penguin looked put off, as if he was finding their moment of glee a waste of time, like he'd rather be pursuing even more details, but neither of them cared. They just kept laughing. As Harley always would so long as her puddin' was happy.

That night would be Batman's last stand. Neither clown could _not_ laugh about it.

It was just too damn funny.

* * *

 _ **A/N:**_

 _ **Villains ahoy! Yeah, it was more of a scene setter this one, getting the wheel's in place before they get into motion, but we're back to our heroes next time round, and they'll be in action too. So stay tuned for that!**_

 _ **Anywho, another bunch of reviews flew in that I'm very grateful for, loving the reactions I'm getting not just to this one but the ones still flying in to my older stories too. Thanks very much guys!**_

 _ **Now its time to send another lot my way. You'll get Chapter 3 next week in return!**_


	4. Chapter 3: Coupling

**Chapter 3: Coupling**

The jagged fountain of ice was thundering across the sky, ready for the kill. It was being sent his way, ready to take him out. They were icicles in form, but daggers in substance. It wasn't an attempt to freeze him solid, it was all for the kill. It wasn't going to be enough though. It had never been before, and it wouldn't be now. These people never learned.

Green Lantern had the protective wall of light in place before Killer Frost's attack could get through. The Legion of Doom were back in action, or at least what was left of them. It had been over a year since the gang of supervillains had fallen when Darkseid and Lex Luthor became lost to the Source Wall. During that time the survivors had kept remarkably quiet, not even a toddler's snacks getting snatched. Apparently the villainous group had learned a lesson in that time. It seemed they had been starting to realise that ultimately crime didn't pay. Now, for whatever reason, they had managed to unlearn what they had learned.

They were in Asia, Macau to be precise. The Las Vegas of the Far East. Whatever it was they were up to wasn't clear, but the members of the Justice League knew that it must have been no good. For these villains to surface again, it had to be something worth the risk of incurring the Justice League's wrath again. They hadn't exactly been subtle in their efforts either. The four of them – Giganta, Atomic Skull, Bizarro and Killer Frost – had virtually announced their presence as they had stormed the city, practically tearing apart one of its biggest casinos on their way in. Apparently they were looking for something, not caring who, or _what,_ got in their way. It was safe to say that people had instantly panicked, had run from the four foes as quickly as they could, all fearful for their lives.

But it was a panic that the Justice League had not failed to register. The tips Mister Terrific had received had paid off. Barely had he gotten the team of Founders assembled and ready to move at the first sign of trouble than those signs were well in view. Only seconds later, he had four of the best sent to save the day.

Even with all of that, though, the heroes had only just gotten there fast enough. From the sight of the suitcase clutched tightly in Atomic Skull's hands at the time of their arrival, the villain's had clearly already found what they were looking for. Now they just had to escape. Unfortunately for them, that wasn't going to happen. Not with Shayera, Batman and Wonder Woman right there with Green Lantern in the fight to stop them.

Green Lantern slammed his wall of light forwards. He had purposefully drawn Killer Frost up high, flying up above the bright neon lights of the Macau skyline. Predictably she had given chase, riding up high on a track of ice, created from nowhere as only she could. A psychopath like her was always determined to go for the kill, especially when the target was someone like the legendary John Stewart. So many of these villains had tried that over the years. But like all of the rest, her assault of ice wasn't enough. GL had stopped it, and now he was fighting back.

The wall hit Killer Frost, and hit her hard. It knocked her clean off her perch. More, it smashed her perch apart. She screamed as she began to fall, though it did noticeably take her a second to shake off the daze from the impact of the light. She could have saved herself of course. She could have fired a fresh tower of ice directly beneath her to catch herself upon. However, she never got the chance to figure that out. She wasn't the only opponent here after all.

One swooping hand later and Killer Frost was gathered up in Giganta's enormous grasp. Yet Green Lantern also hadn't been alone in trying to draw these foes away from the heart of the city and all of the civilians it contained. Shayera had done so too. Giganta was her target, or more accurately Shayera had been Giganta's. Taking to the skies had meant that the engorged, former gorilla's wild blows were left hitting only empty air when they inevitably missed, instead of causing all manner of collateral damage to the city and its people. Of course, taking flight played into Shayera's hands in other ways too. Up here, she could use her full array of manoeuvres. Up here, she could really fight back.

Giganta had never been the smartest, but of all this bunch of villains she was the only one who had at least some compassion. That was why she had gone to catch Frost as soon as she had seen her ally begin to fall. It was ironic, unfortunately so, that it was that compassion that left Giganta's defences wide open. Going after Frost had been a distraction, taking her focus away from holding Shayera at bay. Now Shayera had a clean run, one which John knew she would never refuse.

He heard her epitomising war cry before he saw her swooping into view, mace charged up and at the ready. He could practically feel the power of it as the weapon struck home hard, right across Giganta's huge face. Comparably the mace was tiny, but the force it could provide was more than enough, especially when in the right hands. Shayera's blow was good and true. Giganta was clearly instantly hurt, wincing in pain as if she was struggling to overcome it.

Still, Green Lantern wasn't about to just leave it at that and walk away. It was time to make sure. He hurled another ray of light outwards from his ring, blasting it straight towards Giganta's torso. It was all that was needed to send the giant completely off balance. She immediately staggered, beginning to fall. Simply being caught off guard for that one moment had been enough to knock the wind completely out of her.

There was just one problem with that. In her giant form, Giganta must have had plenty of weight on her frame. So much so that allowing her to fall would not be a good move, not this close to a city and its people, especially one so busy as this one. That was why Green Lantern was quick to send out another blast of light. This one was more than just a lance, though. It was a sling and chains all at the same time. It took plenty of will and concentration to pull it off, but the light latched onto Giganta across the skies. She got damn close, but it caught her just in time, just before she could crash into the neighbouring casino and set the city structures tumbling like dominoes. Not only that, but the light got her arms well and truly pinned too. Giganta was out of the game.

Killer Frost wasn't though. Giganta's grip had been tight, tight enough to prevent Frost from slipping out as Lantern's attack had struck. However, unlike Giganta, Killer Frost had gotten her wits back about her. Sure, now that she was out cold Giganta was starting to slowly shrink back to normal size, but Green Lantern's catching shackles were keeping both women in their place. However, Killer Frost wasn't dependent on proximity to do her damage.

This time she sent a pure pillar of ice Green Lantern's way. Before she had tried to perforate him full of icicles. Now she just wanted to swallow him up within the ice. That would _not_ be good. Thankfully it was an attack that Green Lantern knew he had the power fend off. Unfortunately, too much of his focus and thoughts were being used up on keeping Giganta in check. He couldn't afford to divert any of that elsewhere without risking lives. And that was even if he had spotted the ice coming in time. There was nothing he could do to stop Frost's attack.

Luckily, Green Lantern was not up there alone. Shayera still had some focus to spare. Her trademark yell issuing forth was John's signal that something else was amiss. He saw just in time as Shayera flew in again, mace charged and ready. She swung it in the moment that the ice was close enough for Lantern to feel the drop in temperature, but thankfully before he couldn't feel anything at all. Frost's ice shattered, the whole stream of it, under the energy of Shayera's nth metal mace.

But Shayera wasn't done there. She had clearly had enough, deciding to end this thing. Her flight went deeper into enemy territory, right towards the remaining aggressor. Now that he was watching, Green Lantern could see Frost trying to throw more ice Shayera's way, only for Shayera to use her mace to keep every effort away from her right until she got within range. That close, nothing mattered. Shayera wasn't going to miss.

With one last swing of the mace, Killer Frost was out of play too. These two villains were done.

However, there were still a couple of others left trying to wreak havoc on this city…

* * *

Being the strongest Leaguer on site and the most durable one too, Wonder Woman had naturally been the one to take on Bizarro. It helped, of course, that she had beaten him before. He may have been in possession of a lot of the powers of Superman, but Superman he was not. The deficiencies of the cloning were more than obvious, and Batman was not the only person around who knew how to play on an enemy's weaknesses.

She had to protect the people of Macau first and foremost though. She had seen GL and Shayera take to the skies to draw away Killer Frost and Giganta. That had been a good call, one that she had replicated herself. Bizarro may have been slow and dense, but he was still able to recognise her, to remember what had happened during their previous meetings. That meant that he had instantly gone after her, chasing revenge. As such, all she had to do to get Bizarro away from people was fly away herself.

They were over the bay in no time. It was then that Wonder Woman stopped her flight. It was time for her to fight instead.

The fact that she had to stop and turn meant that Bizarro had the chance to swing the first punch. Wonder Woman knew that though. That was why she was easily able to duck under it as the pasty fist flung by. She was quick to react after that, sending a powerful uppercut right into Bizarro's gut as he began to sail past. The blow hit hard enough to alter the clone's trajectory, sending him flying upwards instead of onwards. However, that was nowhere near enough to beat even a defective clone of Clark.

Bizarro was soon flying back towards Wonder Woman, clearly intent on pummelling her into oblivion. Using all of her skill, Wonder Woman ducked and dodged, parried and deflected, keeping those attacks away from hitting her. She sent some of her own strikes in at the same time too, utilising every moment when Bizarro unintentionally left a gap in his defences. But it wasn't enough, and even out here over the waters this was taking too long. The others might be needing her help.

That was why Wonder Woman tried something else the very next time Bizarro gave her an opening. Utilising her gods given strength, Wonder Woman struck hard, punching Bizarro fiercely across the chin. She struck hard enough to send the clone flying across the skies, away from her again. However, this time she didn't just stay there and wait for him to fly back under his own power. With a flick of her wrist and great precision, Wonder Woman had the lasso of truth drawn from her belt and tightened firmly around the mad villain.

"Bizarro, stop!" she roared across the skies to him, seeing him ready to attack again, clearly enraged at being bound. "Why are you doing this? Why are you involved?"

"Bizarro am hating Lex Luthor! So Bizarro must avenge!"

It was typically backward logic from Bizarro. He hated Lex Luthor because he was Superman's nemesis, but his warped mind had made that mean he would do anything Lex would say. Now that Lex seemed to be gone, apparently Bizarro would do anything to harm the Justice League that he had so often fought. Helping out Killer Frost and the rest was clearly all just a part of that, as whatever they were up to would not be to the League's benefit.

"We don't have to be your enemies Bizarro," Wonder Woman was quick to tell him, keeping him held at bay thanks to making Bizarro face the truth, and the pain the lasso would unleash if he tried to fight that. "You used to think you were Superman once. Does doing this really live up to those ideals?"

Bizarro's face twisted in enforced thought. Eventually he managed to come up with an answer. "No."

Things went on that way for the next few minutes. Soon Wonder Woman had him spilling his heart out. In no time she had him weeping and hugging her. And it went on even after she took the lasso off of him.

Not every fight had to end in a punch-up. However, she doubted that the others would be having as much luck in that regard as she had.

Especially given how annoyed Bruce was that their time together had been cut short because of this.

* * *

It had been Atomic Skull who had been clutching the case, and clutching it tightly to him. Clearly that case contained what these villains had come out of hiding to go after. Therefore it was clearly something that the Justice League could not allow them to escape with. That was why Batman had instantly chosen Atomic Skull as the foe that he most needed to bring to justice. While Diana, John and Shayera had all immediately begun luring the other villains as far from the civilians as they could, Batman had given chase as Atomic Skull had begun to flee. Luckily Atomic Skull was not a man in possession of flight or super speed. Unluckily, he was in possession of a hostage.

It was a middle-aged woman, clearly not a local of these parts. She looked as if she had simply been plucked from the throngs of civilians trying to get away from the chaos erupting around them. Or at least she would have done if it weren't for the very subtle look she gave when Atomic Skull had grabbed her, a look almost of resigned expectancy. It was a look heavily buried by fear, but one that Batman's well-honed eyes picked up nonetheless. Still, there was the small matter of stopping her captor to take care of before he took that one any further.

Atomic Skull had fled into one of the casinos, the same one that he and his band of foes had torn up earlier. What was usually a building teeming with people and lit up brighter than a Christmas tree was now dark, devoid and empty, save for him and his captive and the sparking of several loose, broken wires dangling from the ceiling. Clearly he had felt that the darkness and unfamiliar, more cramped surroundings would help mask his escape. He couldn't have realised that it was the Batman he had on his tail, the same Batman who had lived his entire life in the dark.

It was easy for him to blend in, to make it so that Atomic Skull could not spot him in there. All his training and proficiency for stealth got put to good use as Batman pursued the villain inside. Atomic Skull was making enough noise crashing through the overturned chairs and roulette tables in his efforts to make it out the other side before anyone could catch him that Batman didn't need to see him to know where he was. Still, the glowing green flames that engulfed his head may as well have been a giant neon sign reminiscent of the city outside. Batman's target could not be missed. With the villain possessing super strength and the ability to shoot radiation blasts at range, stealth was definitely Batman's best option here. And he had just the gadget in his utility belt to bring Atomic Skull down. The only problem was that hostage. Batman had to defeat Atomic Skull without her getting hurt at the same time too.

Luckily, the Batman always had a plan. This place had been smashed up, but structurally it still looked largely sound. That was why Batman felt safe in grapnelling up to the ceiling of the grand casino room. Once up there, and keeping Atomic Skull well in sight, he got to work.

"I'm disappointed, Jospeh," Batman spoke from the shadows, keeping plenty of mystery and menace in his voice as he began to skilfully position himself exactly where he needed to be. Just the sound of his voice was enough to put Atomic Skull on edge. More so, rather, since he had looked jumpy to begin with. But then, hearing Batman's voice without knowing where it was coming from was enough to strike fear into anyone. Atomic Skull simply happen to be no exception, especially as Batman showed off that he knew exactly who the foe really was. "Robbing from tourists? Awfully small scale for you isn't it? I'd have expected far better from a supposed master criminal."

"Batman?" Atomic Skull called out into the darkness. Batman could see him desperately scanning the room, trying and failing to see where the voice was coming from. "Back off, or the broad finds out just how devastating radiation can be!"

"Then you'd lose your only advantage here," Batman spoke again, a real demonic trait to what would have sounded to Atomic Skull like a bodiless voice. "Without the woman you have nothing to stop me taking you down. And you don't want _that_ to happen. Clearly you haven't thought this through. But then again, without Luthor or Grodd around to tell you what to do, you wouldn't. You never were a smart one."

"That's it, time to die, Bat!"

Batman had done it. Atomic Skull had erupted in a howl of rage. It was so easy to push the right buttons for villains like these. Batman had gotten Atomic Skull to react exactly how he wanted him to. In his rage, Atomic Skull did not hold back. With the red mist descended over his vision, it suddenly didn't matter to the villain that he couldn't see the enemy pursuing him. He suddenly just wanted to go for the kill. However, first of all he did heed Batman's words. Accepting that he couldn't afford to lose the protective shield of his hostage, he slammed the woman down to the ground at his feet, keeping her close but also getting her out of the way. And then he attacked.

It was like an extension of the green flames that eternally burned around that skull of his. The blast was issued angrily forth, a constant stream of radioactive fire. The first shot was aimed in the direction of the doorway that Atomic Skull had entered the room from, clearly hoping that Batman would have followed him that way and would still be over there. However, Atomic Skull was not banking everything on that hope. He hardly waited a second before sweeping the continuous blast around the room in a grand arc. His intentions were clear. The Bat was in there somewhere, and he was going to get him, even if he had to sweep the whole damn room. Unfortunately for him, that was also the exact reaction that Batman had sought.

Atomic Skull hadn't stopped to think that Batman might be _above_ him. With the combined effects of the damage wrought, the woman's scared screams and the sounds of the billowing radioactive flame, Batman could move freely without any need to worry about the sounds giving his position away. At about the same moment that roughly a third of the room had been struck by Atomic Skull's attacks, Batman was in place.

And then he dropped, right behind his aggressor's back. He gave Atomic Skull no chance to realise that either, nor did he allow the villain to be able to detect the small pad which Batman had applied to his back as he had fallen. It was only as Batman flicked the switch that Atomic Skull realised what was happening.

His entire body convulsed as the electric shocks took him. It only took seconds before he was out cold. Still, Batman had deemed it necessary to dive atop the female hostage to ensure Atomic Skull didn't try any last second vengeance before the charge made him black out. Atomic Skull hit the ground hard then. He was out of action.

And the case he had been trying to steal was still here.

"Th… Thank you! Thank you so much! You… You saved my life!" the woman, with a rather thick Franco-Swiss accent, was stammering as soon as she stopped screaming long enough to realise that her would-be kidnapper had been defeated. Batman wasn't really listening though. As he stood back up, his focus was elsewhere. Stooping down, he grabbed the case that had clearly meant so much to the four villains. It was time to learn what was inside. He was careful opening it, making sure there would be no nasty surprises. However, he found none. In fact, all he found inside the thing was a small, simple memory stick.

Now he was curious about what this was all about. And now he had a suspicion. His genius intellect was starting to put the pieces together even before he had drawn the remote access to the Batcomputer from his belt and plugged the stick into it.

"I…I… I hope you don't mind, but I really… _don't_ want to stay here… Not with... _him_ here," the woman was stammering again as she stood too, watching Batman's actions as he used the remote link to read off what was on the stick. It had been encrypted, rather well at that, but not well enough to keep him out. What he was soon reading only confirmed those suspicions that had just arisen.

"I do mind," Batman growled then, spinning back to the woman who had been trying to back away and make for the exit. Simply having the Batglare turned on her was enough to make her stop, though. Now real terror filled her eyes. "We'll wait for the authorities to get here. Tell me Ms. Marlohe, didn't you know what you were getting into when you made your bed with former members of the Legion of Doom?"

* * *

"But how did you know? How did you know that the hostage was in on it all?"

It was Shayera asking the question, but Batman could tell they were all thinking it. About an hour had passed since Atomic Skull, Giganta, Killer Frost and Bizarro had each been respectively taken down. It had taken most of that time for the civilian authorities to mobilise a task force to Macau capable of holding four such notable foes, so of course the members of the Justice League had had to stay on sight to keep watch on things. The villains hadn't posed any problems though. Atomic Skull was still out cold, Green Lantern still had Frost and Giganta all tied up and Bizarro was still crying out truths like a small child. Even after they were gone, however, there was still the small matter to deal with of the woman that Atomic Skull had taken hostage.

It had taken some convincing to get the authorities to take her away too, even as Batman had presented the evidence. These people just couldn't add up how such a _normal_ person could be involved in this. But then none of them was the world's greatest detective. Despite wanting to hurry up with this and get back to Gotham, Batman had been forced to stop and explain things.

The memory stick hadn't contained classified government documents. Its memory wasn't full of schematics for weapons that could devastate the world. Its contents, and the reason the villains wanted it, was far simpler than all of that. It was what these things always boiled down to; _money_. The data on the memory stick was all about bank accounts. Account numbers, holders, balances, security codes, the works. And not just for any accounts either. These were bank accounts of the rich and the famous, some even pushing towards Bruce Wayne levels of wealth. With the data on that simple memory stick, Atomic Skull and the rest could have robbed those people blind before anyone could do anything about it. When it came down to it, even supervillains needed bankrolling. After months of hiding, clearly these four's funds had run dry. That was why they had had to come out of hiding to go after the memory stick. They needed the cash.

But someone had to have gathered that data, putting that memory stick together in the first place. Someone also had to have been around to let the villains know that it existed. It hadn't taken Batman long to figure it out when he saw what was on that memory stick. Someone had gotten greedy. Not greedy enough to rob the accounts themselves and risk the full weight of the authorities coming after them, but enough so as to sell off that risk to someone else and then make a clean getaway. It couldn't just be anyone at that. It would have to be someone who worked for the particular group of Swiss banks where all of those accounts were held.

Someone exactly like Henrietta Marlohe. It hadn't just been any old tourist that Atomic Skull had taken hostage. It had been the woman who brought that suitcase to Macau in the first place, the woman who had put the details on that memory stick together. The details of the memory stick had been carefully set up to avoid the possibility of the police managing to discern that Marlohe was responsible, but Batman had his ways of unearthing what lay hidden in the megabytes of data. Even without that, the simple fact that she was here was enough, especially once Batman had hacked into the bank's HR database and proved her senior position out there. Managing to uncover her money troubles and encrypted messages to the black market on what was meant to be a disposable phone had just been the icing on the cake. Even the Macau police could see that, once Batman had spoon fed them all of the evidence.

Marlohe had been desperate for money, so she had covertly put together all the data on that memory stick. Clearly she had some unknown underworld links already anyway, because she had then begun to advertise that the data was for sale to the highest bidder on the black market. That had been Atomic Skull and his cronies, but when Marlohe had learned just how dangerous her would-be trade partners could be she had obviously panicked and fled here, hoping to blend in in this raucous city. Unfortunately for her, the villains had tracked her, and they wanted what they believed they were due. Ultimately, all the episode did was prove that there was some truth to the age old adage. Crime didn't pay.

"By doing my job," Batman answered Shayera's question. He was not about to stop and explain all of his deductions to the other three, especially not when two of them were meant to have pretty extensive experience in the detective game anyway. If they really wanted to learn some tricks of the trade, he would organise for Barbara or Tim to beam up to the Watchtower one day and give them a lecture. He hadn't the time or the desire to do it himself. Now that the criminals were all arrested, it was time for them to get out of there. The quicker they left, the quicker he could do what needed to be done on the Watchtower, and then the quicker he could get back to Gotham. And hopefully even get to be alone with Diana once again for a little while, away from all of this.

But Gotham was definitely calling. The League and other outside missions had been keeping him busy lately. It had been too long since he had been constantly active in his city. Granted Robin and Batgirl were capable, but no one could do what he did. Even if being this close to certain League members wasn't exactly a chore, Gotham would always have to come first. "Batman to Watchtower. Teleport. Now."

* * *

Barely had they rematerialized than Batman had muttered something about getting the proper reports filed and disappeared off into the depths of the Watchtower, scaring a few of the civilian crewmembers as he stalked out of the teleporter room past them.

"What's crawled up his belfry? I'd have thought being with an Amazonian Princess would be cheering the guy up, not making him moodier than ever!"

"I _am_ still in the room, you know," Wonder Woman pointed out at Shayera's remark. She knew her friend was only reacting to how short Batman had just been to them all following the villains defeat in Macau. She herself felt it was hardly the courteous and proper way to act. But she also knew that Bruce was not about to go changing any time soon and, whether she was with him or not, she wasn't about to ask him to. Besides, she had had the chance to see his lighter side more than once in the months gone by. The last couple of days were certainly examples of that.

"And you were the one gushing about what he did when that girl Ace died a couple of months back," GL was quick to point out. "Cut the guy a break. He didn't exactly do bad down there you know."

"No, he could have done worse. He could have almost gotten himself iced by Killer Frost. Like you would have if I hadn't been around to save your sorry behind. Sorry, Di, I was too quick to judge. Perhaps you made the right call after all. I guess no guy's perfect. Some are just closer than others."

Wonder Woman could tell instantly what Shayera was up to. Diana and Bruce weren't the only couple amongst the Justice League to find their way to togetherness following the recent pair of alien invasions. John and Shayera had found the way past their differences because of it all too. Now those too were well and truly together, taking things far quicker than Diana and Bruce were, in no small part due to their past experience together and also simply because of who they were. Flash had even been caught joking that John would be popping the question soon. John almost tried to laugh that one off, but even the inexperienced Wonder Woman could see the signs were building. John and Shayera simply seemed to belong together. They were both more comfortable and so much happier this way. The joy Shayera was getting right now simply out of playfully mocking John was proof of all of that.

"Hey, that _wasn't_ a signal for a new session of " _Let's all have a go at Green Lantern"_!" John protested, sounding hurt. Diana, though, couldn't help but smile as Shayera chuckled away. She kept quiet herself, but these kind of back-and-forths so synonymous with Man's World did so often amuse her.

However, her smile didn't last for too long. The trio of them had all stepped off the transporter pads. They weren't in as much of a hurry as Batman had been, but they had begun to make their way out of there. None of them were in the same rush to get the paperwork done. They never were, not like Batman. It was time to relax post-mission. Of course, Diana hoped there would be time for some more _relaxation_ back at Wayne Manor, but first Bruce would need to do what he needed to do. That was why she was more than happy to accompany her friends towards the commissary right now.

For some reason, though, Wonder Woman had glanced up towards the control area before she, John and Shayera left the Watchtower's main chamber. Mr. Terrific was up there as he always seemed to be these days, running the show now that J'onn had temporarily left the League again. There were several civilians too, helping him out running something or another. But it was none of them that had caught their eye. Instead it had been the senior Leaguer up there, working away, sitting alone at a computer console and looking very much like he wanted to stay that way. That was very unlike him. Superman never looked as distracted, as _alone_ as that. Especially not with the way things had been going lately between him and Lois.

"A spot of trouble in a Metropolis paradise, do you think?" Shayera asked, catching onto what Diana hadn't realised she must have been staring at. However, none of them had the chance to muse that thought, let alone head up there and find out what it was that was on Superman's mind. Things never went that easily for them.

The Watchtower alarms started sounding, a high pitched wail joined by alert lights going off all around them. It was a signal that a series of endless drills had taught them all to instantly understand. It was essentially a danger alert. Someone in the Watchtower was in trouble, and that would surely only mean one thing.

Somehow, somewhere, the Watchtower was under attack.

None of them needed to say anything as Mr. Terrific's voice started ringing out around the corridors, barking instructions to all personnel. By all means this should be something that could have caught them off guard. The Watchtower was nigh on impenetrable, and no one in the League would turn on their own. But none of them were caught off guard, their instincts far too well honed. Wonder Woman lead the charge, though Green Lantern, Shayera, even the oddly acting Superman were all hot on her heals. No doubts Batman had abandoned his reports too and was in pursuit of the cause of the alert.

In that moment, everything else was suddenly forgotten. It didn't matter that they had just gotten back from one mission against deadly foes. This was all that mattered now. It wasn't every day the Watchtower came under attack, and despite the unlikelihood of it all, Wonder Woman could not see this being a false alarm. They would all damn well make sure that it survived whatever had set those alarms ablaze.

And that whoever was responsible would be brought to justice.

* * *

 ** _A/N:_**

 ** _Did someone order another Chapter? And yes, I am earlier than normal. You can thank Aden Jones for that one, or "FckNew52" as I believe he's aptly called on this site (going off the bio that is - there can't be two guys like that out in the world, surely?!). Let's see if he can follow the clues he begged for or if the Crazy Phenom beats him regardless. (And for those of you who don't know what I'm on about, check out the fansite mentioned in the note of Chapter 1! It's worth it...)_**

 ** _But yeah, this is the point for you guys to review all over again. Averaging over 10 a chapter so far is brilliant, I'm loving the wealth of responses I'm getting, and the things you guys are saying really make my day. So please keep them flying in! Chapter 4 will then be yours! The plan is no drop it back into the usual posting slot for those of you who like routines, but next week may be subject to change. Watch this space…_**


	5. Chapter 4: Haywire

**Chapter 4: Haywire**

"Come on, Dinah! You could handle way more than this with your eyes closed before Robin Hood came along!"

He was trying to antagonise her, to push her off guard. He was trying to distract her so that she would miss something, so that her defences wouldn't be so firm and he could break through them to land a heavy blow. But Black Canary had learned many years ago that in any fight, the brain was every bit as powerful as the muscles, if not more so. She would not be beaten that easily.

She was in the Watchtower's training complex, honing up on her skills to ensure they stayed as sharp as ever. Even the best couldn't afford to get sloppy with these things, and she really was one of the very best. That was why she needed a place to train that could put even her to the test. The Watchtower provided exactly that environment. After all, this place had been designed to be able to give even Superman, J'onn and Wonder Woman a workout. Black Canary hadn't set things up for that level of strength, not fancying the inevitable trip to the infirmary if she did, but this place would certainly be a good test all the same.

The nearest robot took a swing at her with its mechanical fist, a swing which she was able to duck under. As the robot's momentum took it forward, Black Canary planted a swirling kick into its back, knocking the droid off balance and crashing to the deck. Its programming meant it stayed there, what with it being set up to act like a human thug, albeit a tough one. Black Canary had unleashed several of the League's training droids thusly. This needed to be a challenge after all, and these robots certainly could provide that. That was why the League had them after all, including this new batch, generously funded via a donation by one Oliver Queen, with the announcement that he couldn't let Wayne Enterprises hog all the limelight on that front.

And as if to make that point all the more clear, it wasn't just her against them. In the real world things weren't always that straightforward. Things could get complicated, a plethora of agendas and sides capable of making themselves known in a fight, particularly with people crazy enough to take on the Justice League. She needed to test herself against more than just the programmed robots. She needed to include someone with a far more human perspective on things, and take on them and the robots all at the same time. Thankfully, someone else shared the desire to test themselves in that way. It wasn't a surprise really. For as long as she had known him, Ted "Wildcat" Grant had always loved a good fight.

"You're getting soft, you know that?" Wildcat continued to chide her, to throw her right off as he got closer and closer. He was largely letting the robots pressurise Black Canary for now. He was having a bit too much fun fighting a few off of his own back to bother too much with her anyway, but Canary knew that wouldn't last. He was just waiting for his chance to try and show her up. "I've seen it happen to you gals before when you get all lovey-dovey like this. Wasn't expecting you to fall into the same pit too. Thought I trained you better than that."

Black Canary knew it wouldn't last long. Just as Wildcat finished trying to get in her head the latest time, his fist had swung again. He had feigned as if to attack the robots again, only they weren't his target. Black Canary most certainly was, but she was also ready. Despite Wildcat's efforts she had kept her focus. She had waited for the opportune moment that she knew was coming, using the time up to then to keep the coast clear of those robots. Now that moment was here, she struck.

She used Wildcat's own momentum against him. She ducked and latched onto the swinging fist, using it throw Wildcat beyond her. Then, with his back to her and off balance, Black Canary's job was easy. A hard kick in the back of Wildcat's knee, a flick of his shoulder, a trip on his ankle. Now that Wildcat had played his hand, Canary had him floored with ease.

"So who is it that's getting soft?" she teased as she loomed over the prone Wildcat, smiling at him as he knew she'd bested him. And in truth, that was all Black Canary needed from this session. She certainly still had it. It was therefore time to put an end to this. "Computer, shut down training programme."

It was a voice command that was supposed to deactivate all of the training robots in place and open up the training room, allowing them to leave. It was supposed to be a few simple words to signal an end to the exercise, an end to the fight.

However, it turned out to be anything but. The metal arm crashed hard into her back, knocking Black Canary flying. It was because of that that it took her several moments to see what was going on. After all, she had to get up again first.

It was then that she saw the robots attacking, and not just the ones that Canary and Wildcat had been training with. The entire horde were swarming in, and they were all attacking. There was no time to wonder why it was happening, but the robots had all just gone nuts. To put it simply, she and Wildcat were suddenly in a whole heap of trouble.

"I ain't going down to no tin cans!" Wildcat was firmly declaring as he scrambled back to his feet. He looked angry at what was happening, but also determined, ready for a fight still. As things turned out, though, he had acted too soon.

There were five of the robots close to surrounding him, but Wildcat didn't back down. He unleashed a string of attacks that would normally have taken each of those robots out in a devastating flurry. It ought to have done this time too. The only possible reason why it shouldn't have done was if the robots had somehow gone up in their settings, if they were suddenly at the levels normally reserved for Superman, not mere human beings. Unfortunately, that seemed to be exactly the case this time. It was as if all safety features had been disabled too.

The robots blocked everything Wildcat had flung their way, simply with pure brute strength. But they didn't stop there. They had not only altered their programming, they had broken it. These droids were meant to be programmed to challenge but to never cause any harm. That command had suddenly gone well out of the window.

" _Ted_!"

Canary had called out his name as she had watched the damage unfold, all before she could scramble to his rescue. The screams would live with Canary for the rest of her life, as would the sounds of cracking bones as Wildcat was struck by a horrific pummelling by the robots, his arms snapped out to angles they should never have gone to as he tried to fight back. Even worse was the fact that there was nothing that she could do. If these things could so easily bring down Wildcat, then there was no way that she could beat them without one hell of a struggle, by which time it would be too late. She couldn't unleash the Canary call either, not with Wildcat still caught in the middle of that lot, being beaten to within an inch of his life. Canary herself was hardly in the clear either. Now that she was standing again, the battalion of other training robots were turning their attention her way, advancing menacingly like a bunch of pumped up Terminators.

She didn't like having to resort to this, but looking around her Black Canary saw no other option. Whatever this was, be it a malfunction or a direct attack, it was bad. Very bad. And she was in dire need of some help. That was why she sounded the alarm as quick as she could, before having to leap into massive evasive action to avoid befalling the same wounds that had just struck down Wildcat.

She could only hope that help would arrive in time, and that her mentor wasn't dead already.

* * *

He had not even got perched at his workstation when the alarms had begun blaring. Instantly, Batman recognised the alert from the tone and pitch of the sirens. This was no external problem, no automated warning, no summons to fight a threat away from the Watchtower. This was an internal alarm, triggered by someone aboard the Watchtower. Someone on the space station was in trouble, and they were issuing a plea for help.

Batman did not like even the idea of that. The Watchtower was supposed to be nigh on impenetrable. He had designed it to be so, after all, especially after that Task Force X incident. But there was surely some form of assailant here, a foe or threat infiltrated bad enough for someone to trigger the alarms.

This was already turning into one hell of a day. It was a good job, then, that Batman always came prepared for anything.

"Watchtower computer remote access, user code Batman 001," he was rapidly calling out. It was a signal, a voice recognition login, linking up his League communicator to the Watchtower's computers, security grid included. It was something he had built in, just in case he ever had to fight, move and hack all at once. Just as he had to do right now. "Locate source of the alarm."

The feminine voice the computer was given was answering him almost immediately. "Training complex, level four section C. Issued by Black Canary."

Batman was on the move before the computer had finished rattling off that information. He wasn't far, but it would still take him time to get there, time that they may not have. Still, he had to get there. He had to assess the situation, to know what was going on before he could make a plan to stop it. And there was every chance that there just wasn't the time for him to stop and check out the security cameras. That was why he made the call. It might put Black Canary and whoever was with her at risk, but for the greater good that place needed locking down. It was a tough call he was prepared to make, but by no means did that mean he was giving up on any of them. He just had to make sure whatever the threat was, it was contained. Otherwise dealing with it might get a whole lot harder.

"Lock down that area!" Batman barked into his communicator. "Access to be limited to Founder level clearance only until the situation's handled. Nothing in or out otherwise!"

The computer didn't reply this time, but then Batman didn't expect it to. He knew that it would be doing as instructed. And so instead he focused on the journey, and on what else he could do until he got there. In truth, despite all of his great prowess and plans, there was nothing, not without knowing more. He needed eyes on the ground. Luckily he had the League roster memorised. He knew who ought to be up here. He knew who could be his eyes.

"Batman to Flash. Get to the Watchtower training complex, now!"

* * *

"Way ahead of you, Bats!"

Wally West had lived up to his title of the fastest man alive. He had been on the Watchtower when the alarms had gone off, winding down after wrapping up a League mission an hour or so back. As soon as the alarms had gone off though, he was wound right back up again. He hadn't waited either. He hadn't stopped to be told where the problem was. Just asking the question would have taken longer than the alternative, at least as far as he was concerned. It was quicker for him to run the entire length, breadth and height of the Watchtower until he came across the source of it all. He still only just made it there before the thick blast doors sealed behind him. Then Batman's call had come in.

"Then tell me exactly what's going on in there." Typical Bats. Direct and to the point. Without even a trace of the word _please._ Still, after all the League had been through together over the years, Flash had long since gotten to know that Bats wasn't as cold as he made out to be.

Flash ran on at Bats' signal. The sealing blast doors had caused him to stop, the sound making him have to pause and look back at what was happening. Now he could figure out that Bats was behind that part, and so it was time to figure out the rest. That was why he ran again, deeper into the complex, since right then he was still only in a corridor. In no time he was in the main chamber though, the place where the mock fights were held.

And what he saw when he got there astounded and horrified him.

The training 'bots, they were certainly brawling. All of them. The training robots looked like they had gone crazy. Big time crazy. And they looked like they were using that crazy to cause all sorts of damage out there. Including to the two Justice Leaguers who must have been the ones training in here when the droids decided to go nuts.

Wildcat was already down. Flash could see that he was still breathing, but he looked in bad shape. Those droids were still gathered around him too, looking ready to finish him off. Black Canary was doing better, but the question was how long that would last. She was still standing, looking like she had managed to largely keep out of reach of the robot's heavy blows, but also like she would certainly be sporting a bruise or two tomorrow. She may have even been hurt worse than that, but she was certainly putting on a brave face. With the amount of robots trying to encircle her too, she could well soon be in as big a mess as her old mentor.

Simply put, things were bad enough that Flash couldn't just stand by. Simply from the look of things, not least the size of the dents in the walls where the droids had swung and missed, the robots were up at Big Boy Blue's settings. That meant that Flash couldn't risk taking them on too directly, not with the amount of them compared to his team of one. But a standing punch up was hardly Flash's usual style anyway.

He didn't wait for another call for help. The blaring alarms and what he was seeing was enough. Even if it wasn't polite, he knew it was necessary. He ran in, as fast as he dared. A whirlwind of motion, he zipped in every space he could get through. Every step of the way he was careful not to get struck by those wacky machines, but not to the extent he hid away from where he had to be. Before the robots would have been able to register it, he had Wildcat picked up and draped over his shoulder. Before she could realise what was happening, he had Black Canary over his other one. Flash didn't stop there either. He kept on running. It was a good job too, as it meant he got out of the way just before a robot arm ploughed through the air right where he and the other two had been less than a second before.

"Am I glad you're here…" Canary commented a moment later, once a double take or two had allowed her to register that her rescuer had arrived. Flash, though, knew that they weren't out this yet. Those robots didn't look like slowing down just yet, and even the Flash couldn't keep everyone away from them forever. Those things needed bringing under control. Fast, fast, _fast._

"Yo, Bats!" Flash called out into his comm as he ran, continuing to evade the robots. Now, with him having stolen their other targets, they were all just coming after him. He knew he could outrun them all day normally. The problem was, carrying Black Canary and Wildcat slowed him down, especially if he wanted to make sure to keep them safe. Which of course he did. "There's definitely trouble down here. All the training droids have gone wacko! I caught them trying to make mincemeat out of a pair of our own! We gotta shut them down before they do any more serious damage!"

"Understood," Batman's voice growled back over Flash's comm piece. "Get all wounded clear. Reinforcements are coming in to keep the place locked down until I can deactivate them, but the blast doors will open up with your command codes. Get out of there, now."

"On it," Flash was quick to react. Helping people. That was his real reason for being in this game anyway. He wasn't all about the fighting. He was about the people they were fighting for. Granted the same thing could be said about just about everybody in the Justice League, but there weren't many who could say it more honestly than Flash could. Getting Canary and Wildcat out to the medical care at least one of them badly needed was exactly the kind of task Flash was happy to take on. Others were welcome to the punch up.

And so he ran some more. The thing was, those robots clearly weren't just on the high settings strength wise. They weren't acting dumb either. With their targets out of reach they had started moving towards a new tactic, one other than pure brute force. They were moving to cover the doors.

But they weren't moving as fast as the Flash. As long as there was a gap, any kind of a gap, Flash was sure he could make it. He just had to open the doors first.

"Flash to Watchtower. Open Sesame! Command Code 006. Let us out of the training room!"

His command was obeyed instantly. Immediately he could see the heavy blast doors beginning to creak open. But Flash was still worried. There wasn't many times when Flash thought he was _too_ fast. Now was one of those moments though. He didn't think that the damn thing would open wide enough to let him out before he got there, and standing around waiting would _not_ be a good idea. Worse, with the other two on his back, he could hardly tuck and roll.

Thankfully, it was just paranoia striking him instead of robot arms. He made it out of there, but once again only just avoiding what would have been a _very_ painful blow. But he couldn't stop and celebrate that fact. Batman had wanted the training complex locked down for a reason. Those droids would be a lot easier to handle if they were kept from getting loose.

"Alright computer, lock it back up again! And throw away the key!"

Flash didn't turn to look back. He just kept on running, out down the corridor beyond the training complex. However, he was relieved to hear the sounds of heavy metal slabs moving closer together. Conversely, he wasn't relieved to hear as they came to a jarring stop well before they should have done. Canary's worried groan hardly helped matters. He had to stop to see what this was, especially if it was going to be a problem.

And it just could well be a problem. Robotic hands, _super-strong_ robotic hands, had latched onto both sides of those blast doors. Plenty of pairs of them too. Even the strength of the Watchtower couldn't resist the strength of the 'bots. The doors that should have been shutting were halted. The robots might not have been able to easily smash their way through them, but this way they could easily crash their way _around_. Just a brief glance was enough to tell Flash that those doors had been jarred to a constant halt. Worse, the robots were already starting to climb through the gap that had just been left open for them.

He wasn't as clear of them as he had hoped. The things were still coming after him. Flash gulped, but then he heard the voice shout behind him too.

"Flash, get those two out of here! We'll keep them occupied!"

It was Shayera who was calling out, but she wasn't alone. The blast of green light flew past Flash first, smashing into the robots and knocking them back through their hole. Flash had his doubts if that would be enough to hold them, but it was something. It was enough to suggest that he wasn't going to have to stop and fight after all. Seeing Shayera, GL and Wonder Woman all flying in headfirst towards the droids made that message even clearer.

And so Flash ran on again, carrying his two charges to the help they clearly needed.

Besides, at his speed he could be back here soon, though hopefully his other friends wouldn't be needing his help too. Hopefully by then this situation would be well under control.

Hopefully by then Bats would have found the robots' collective off switch.

* * *

So it was the training droids. A very serious malfunction too. But they were effectively computers, and all computers could be shut down so long as the right buttons could be found. And Batman knew exactly where those buttons were.

"Batman to Watchtower. Deactivate all training droids aboard. Erase attack protocols. Shut it all down. Now!"

He was still running, still moving towards where he needed to be. Hence he was still working via the remote link his comm unit provided to the Watchtower's computers. Since the problem seemed to be with the Watchtower's own tech, though, that was exactly what he needed. Or at least it ought to have been. After a short pause, the computer's mechanical voice spoke its response.

"User Batman recognised. User access rejected."

 _User access rejected?_ That shouldn't be. Batman had designed these systems. In an emergency like this one, there shouldn't be any system which he couldn't access. The fact that he was being shut out now was a serious problem. A problem that went beyond merely shutting the droids down. The Watchtower was more compromised than Batman had thought. But after Lex Luthor had once hacked in remotely, Batman had put the steps in place to ensure that that would not happen again, especially with Luthor now out of the picture. That only left the one option.

"Batman to Wonder Woman!" he called out into the comm, changing away from addressing solely the computers. Even as he spoke, he was changing direction. There was suddenly somewhere that he needed to be far more than at ground zero. "Tell me you're at the training complex?"

"I'm here," her voice came back, managing to sound heavenly even with the strains of fighting audible in the background. "Shayera and Lantern are with me. We're keeping them busy. I assume you have a plan?"

"I'm working on it," Batman growled back. "Just make sure you keep them away from people who aren't as able to defend themselves as you are. And stay safe."

"Right back at you." He could practically hear Wonder Woman's grin at that. _People who aren't as able to defend themselves_. It was practically a compliment from him, the closest she was going to get to him saying how damn good at this she really was. Right now anyway.

The signal clicked off there, but Batman did not stop. In fact, he had just received the motivation to push himself on even harder, to run even faster. He just received even more reason to shut this down, fast.

He had to reach the mainframe room, and find out just how deep this thing went.

* * *

Batman was working on fixing this, but until he did there was plenty of work to do. The robots had been trying to escape, trying to pursue Flash, Wildcat and Canary. That couldn't be allowed to happen. They could not be allowed loose on the Watchtower, particularly with so many civilians up here working aboard it who would have no way to defend themselves. They had to be held here, to be stopped if at all possible.

And so Wonder Woman fought them. She was just about the only one who could after all. There was a limitation to how strong these robots could get, a maximum setting designed for the Justice League's strongest heroes. Wonder Woman was certainly one of those. And so she engaged them, in spite of their vastly superior numbers. She utilised all of her experience, all of her training, all of her skill. She gave the robots the fight that under the circumstances Wildcat and Canary couldn't.

But Wonder Woman wasn't alone. With his ring, GL was doing everything that he could to ensure no robot could get loose, putting everything he could into holding the horde at bay. Unfortunately, with so many robots with so much strength striking at his shield, the light couldn't keep holding forever. Lantern kept sending in new waves, but he needed help. He needed people on the inside, people to drive the robots back and give them something else to punch at. That was where Diana and Shayera came in. The first time John's shield had broken, they had both flung themselves into the void. Between Shayera's mace and Wonder Woman's strength, they had the means to do some real damage. And so that was exactly what they were doing.

But it wasn't all plain sailing. Even with her durability, Wonder Woman knew that taking a succession of hits from these things would not be a good idea, especially having seen what they had done to Wildcat. It was clear that all safety protocols were working just about as well as the voice deactivation commands. She could not afford to be blasé about any of this and neither could Shayera. The Thanagarian didn't even have Diana's endurance to protect her. She was far more vulnerable here. Perhaps that was why she was utilising a far more aerial form of attack, flying above the robots and striking down at them hard.

They were holding, but it was also clear that it wouldn't last forever. In fact, it seemed that it wasn't going to last much longer at all. Everything happened all at once. Even from the midst of taking on five of the robots at once, Wonder Woman spotted the chaos spread. From the moment they had gotten here, the robots had been trying to drive Green Lantern's shield back, to force him to retreat further and further up the corridor. Wonder Woman had been trying to prevent that from happening, but there were just too many opponents. She hadn't realised that they had got so close. Yet that was exactly how things were. Out of her eye corner she could see the strain on John's face. The robots were practically on top of him. He was clearly trying to push them back, to drive them away from him and get some distance between himself and his shield, but even all of his mighty willpower didn't seem to be enough. They were practically on top of him. If his shield gave way now, he wouldn't have the chance to put it back up again. He was in big trouble.

And he wasn't the only one. This one Wonder Woman caught out of her other eye corner. This time it was Shayera. Flying over the robot's heads had been what was keeping her safe. She had been able to swoop and dive, to duck and weave, to stay away from any assaults while still being able to attack herself. But that plan had been entirely dependent on her not getting hit, on no lucky blow breaking through her strategy. Unfortunately, her luck was now out. After another successful attack run, one heavy, metallic arm had swung upwards towards her. She had managed to spin at the last second, twisting out of its way. The problem was, on her side it was so easy for her wings to be clipped. Another arm snatch upwards, this one managing to latch on to her feathered appendage. Shayera could do nothing but yell in pain as the robot slammed her down hard, crashing her into the deck plating with enough force to make her mace fly from Shayera's grasp and rolling across the room.

"Shayera!" Wonder Woman screamed in fear, fear of what might happen next. That fear was another problem. It left Wonder Woman vulnerable too, left her distracted. It left her open for the attacks sent crashing her way. Several blows struck into her, hard. They were blows that she could take, but that wasn't the point. By the time she had gotten over them and shrugged the droids off so they couldn't attack again, she was too late. She was too late to help. By then, the robot had Shayera pinned to the ground, and its fist menacingly raised.

By then, the robot was ready to strike the killing blow.

But it never managed to deliver it. That was the same moment where everything stopped. That was the moment where all the robots suddenly shut down.

"I don't think that could have been timed any better," Green Lantern grunted as he pushed past one of the newly deactivated robots. They had all suddenly frozen, exactly in the posture in which they had individually stood moments ago, almost as if they had all been suddenly turned into statues. Wonder Woman saw it as the perfect opportunity to throw the nearest robots to her across the room, crashing into a heap. Bruce could pay for the repairs if they were damaged any way. He'd understand if she wasn't entirely comfortable being surrounded by even inactive ones right now.

"I disagree," Shayera growled in return. Diana saw as she was awkwardly scrambling her way out from beneath the robot's grasp. She took it as her cue to leap across and throw the robot off of Shayera. At the same time, a ray of green light was handing her back her mace. Green Lantern himself was soon right at their side too, one hand resting comfortingly on Shayera's shoulder. "I think several minutes ago would have been far better timing. My heart's still beating out of my chest!"

"Everyone okay?"

Wonder Woman hadn't realised that anyone else was there until she had heard that voice speaking. She joined Shayera and Green Lantern in turning to face the speaker, even if she more than recognised the voice. There were several members of the Justice League stood over there, Green Arrow, Booster Gold and Ice included, but it was Superman that caught Diana's eye. It was then that Diana realised just how odd it was that he hadn't been with the three of them in the first place. After all, he had been close at hand in the teleporter bay with them when the alarms had sounded, and he was hardly lacking in speed. But then, he wasn't the only one to only just get here, and several of them were bound to have had some sort of head start. Besides, there were still too many questions about what had just happened to start worrying about what it was that might be plaguing her friend's mind.

"All of us are," Wonder Woman answered Superman's question. "It remains to be seen what damage was done before we got here."

"What happened anyway?" Superman continued. He was looking around at all of the deactivated robots now, looking very closely. "Some sort of malfunction?"

"No," an even more familiar voice growled out from the corridor. Behind Superman's group another member of the Justice League had just arrived. It was Batman, striding in commandingly as only he could. However, there was a definite edge to his voice, even more so than usual. Things could well be even worse than Diana had been thinking. It was then that Diana noticed there was some sort of electronic device in Batman's hand. She noticed it all the more as Batman held that device up for them all to see, as if it alone was the key to everything and that they should all instantly understand. "It was sabotage."

* * *

 _ **A/N:**_

 _ **The cap is in hand as I come asking for reviews again. Averaging 10 a chapter so far is absolutely smashing. Lets keep it up guys, and perhaps even up it to 11! I'll take anything, even 1 worders. They all count!**_

 _ **Until next time...**_


	6. Chapter 5: Inbox (1)

**Chapter 5: Inbox (1)**

"Tell me you're kidding," Green Arrow quipped from behind Superman's shoulder. All Batman had to do to convince him to the contrary was flash him a very ominous glare. He was being deadly serious.

"This is an inhibiter chip," he growled out the explanation that was clearly needed alongside that glare, with every set of eyes in the room was looking at him utterly confused. "I found it buried within our mainframes, installed deep into our systems. Its design is simple yet brutally efficient. Once activated, it locked out all voice commands to the training droids, meaning we couldn't shut them off remotely until I took the chip out of play. This chip ensured that when the droids went haywire, we couldn't stop them. That means that someone must have known that was going to happen. That means this chip was planted there deliberately. That means we have a saboteur on board."

"On board? You think whoever stuck that thing in the computers is still around?" Booster Gold blurted out the questions this time, growing a pair he usually couldn't find in the presence of Batman. "Surely they'd have bugged out as soon as they put that thing in there? Why would they possibly want to hang about?"

"Because they don't expect us to find them," Batman growled again. He was figuring it all out in his head and he kept coming to the same conclusion. With all the extra safety protocols and procedures, he could not accept it that the Watchtower's perimeter had been broken through expertly enough for an outsider to get the chip in place undetected. It didn't make sense, the pieces not adding up. If someone had the ability to do that, and the rage in them to make them want to cause harm to the Justice League, then they wouldn't have stopped at inhibiting robot safeties. They would have ensured even more damage was done. But then that only ruled out certain possibilities. It didn't come close to answering the questions of who had actually done this and why. Batman did not like the possible answers to those that were running through his head.

"Alright then. So what do we do? How do we resolve this? The League can't act to our maximum capacity if we can't trust our home station." It was Superman who stepped in this time, acting as the leader as he often liked to do. He may have definitely respected Superman, but at times like this Batman often saw the Kryptonian as just directing traffic. He'd be the one stood out in the open, sending people in the right directions, but he needed someone else in the background to first tell him which direction that was. And so often, Batman was that someone else.

"No one can be allowed to leave the Watchtower until we get to the bottom of this," Batman gave Superman that direction. "No one out, _and_ no one in. Not until we ascertain the full extent that the Watchtower has been compromised, and how to undo it. Not until we find out who did this and why. If anyone tries to leave, then they become the prime suspect. More is going on here than we know. We can't afford to let things stay that way."

"OK, sure, we investigate," Green Arrow was quick to leap in again. He seemed rather more eager than normal to get back to the action. With Dinah one of those injured, Batman wasn't surprised about that, even if he did wish the archer would act with more composure, even now. "But what do we actually _do_? We've been hit, our people hurt. What are we going to do about it?"

" _You_ do nothing," Batman answered, putting plenty of force into the word. However, he didn't direct it just one way. He was looking out at all of them, Superman included. "All of you. _Nothing_. Assemble all active heroes aboard the station in the commissary until further notice, and _stay there_. All civilian personnel should be confined to crew quarters too. The only people who should be anywhere else are myself and those in the Infirmary. No one should be loose, not even our own. And it'll be complete radio silence amongst you too. I've already taken the liberty of deactivating all of your communications devices via the central Watchtower systems. Any attempt at an outward comm call will only get re-directed to me, alerting me of who is breaking quarantine. The same will soon go for if the Watchtower internal sensors detect any unauthorised presence beyond the lockdown zones. It's the only way to ensure whoever did this doesn't have free movement on the Watchtower, or the opportunity to warn anyone their allied with that we're onto them. It's the only way to ensure that more damage isn't done on top of what already has been. In the meantime, I'll find whoever did this."

"Now wait a gosh darned second here!" Arrow exclaimed. "You want us to just sit around and _wait_! Who ga–!"

"Arrow, Batman has a point." It was Superman jumping in again, only this time he was actually living up to his tag as leader. Impressive, and about time. The situation had already managed to get Batman on edge enough to mean he wasn't in the mood for Clark's Boy Scout nature. "If this is the best way to ensure everything and everyone up here is safe, then waiting is something we're going to have to accept. After what happened the last time the Watchtower was compromised, after the damage that was so nearly done, I don't think we can afford not to err on the side of caution. Besides, it's not like it'll take you long to get to the bottom of this, is it Batman?"

Batman took a second before answering in order to put the inhibitor chip carefully in a pouch in his belt for later study. However, his mind was already planning his next five moves. That made his answer typically simple. "No."

As the main outspoken opponent to Batman's plan, all eyes fell on Green Arrow then. It certainly seemed like the rest of Superman's group were ready to accept the plan of the League's two biggest guns. At last, Green Arrow gave in too.

"Fine," he muttered. "But just make sure you're quick about it."

"Then get going," Batman growled out again. This was taking long enough as it was. He needed to get back to work. "And spread the word. Make sure everyone has heard it. I'll have the Watchtower's internal sensors set to register any signs of movement beyond the controlled zones. You won't want to be caught lingering."

"Understood," Superman wrapped things up with a nod and a grin. Damn it. Despite the possible earlier suggestion, the Boy Scout in him was still at the fore. "Let us know as soon as you've found anything."

"I said _go_ ," Batman growled again. It was enough of a signal that the other heroes needed, particularly with the glare that Batman issued to accompany the words. Some of them couldn't leave quickly enough. In next to no time they were all going. Superman and Green Arrow were among the last, Superman practically pushing Arrow out of the door in a consoling, brotherly way. However, there were a few who hadn't moved so fast. Batman merely turned to glare some more.

"What, us too?" Shayera sounded surprised. "We've been with you for hours! You know we had nothing to do with this."

"You too," Batman confirmed. "Move."

"Come on Shay. This is his specialty anyway," GL said, putting both of his hands on Shayera's shoulders. "Besides, after all that fighting I'm sure you could do with a rest."

"What are you trying to say? I could go all day! It was you who almost got put on ice!"

The argument continued, clearly a spot of playacting between a pair of people in a _very_ close relationship. Thankfully, though, it continued whilst on the move. Soon their voices were both drowning out as they too disappeared down the corridor and out of there. However, Batman still wasn't quite alone. She had made to follow behind GL and Shayera, practically laughing at their antics despite the seriousness of the situation. She had made to leave to, except for the fact that Batman hadn't let her. One gauntleted hand grasping hold of her silver bracelet as she had tried to pass had seen to that.

"Not you, Princess," Batman told her as she looked inquisitively at him. "I might need a second pair of hands, and right now yours are the only ones I trust up here."

"The _only_ ones? Bruce, what do you think is going on here?" Trust Diana to act that way. No matter how close she got to him, she was not losing that side to her, that trusting, caring side. She wasn't becoming immersed in Batman's paranoia. No way would she ever back down easy on those occasions where she thought he was wrong, unlike a lot of the other people around there. Just some more reasons why she was so perfect. But right now, Batman knew he was right to be paranoid. He knew that this wasn't one of those occasions where she had to kick some sense back into him.

"The _only_ ones," Batman repeated the words, putting even more emphasis on the ' _only'_ than he had the last time. "Princess, someone had to plant that chip up here. Someone with access. It wasn't an intruder, I'm convinced of that. I checked the transporter logs as soon as I had shut the droids down. The only people to come aboard the Watchtower within a viable timeframe are people we know, a corroborated fact thanks to our latest security updates. On top of that, I found this chip embedded deep within our mainframes, in command and control programmes that our civilian personnel have no access to, a fact I made sure off when I designed it. The only people with access are those on the active Justice League roster."

"Bruce, are you saying what I think you're saying?"

"Yes, Princess," Batman confirmed it to her. It seemed like she had figured it out now, but it still needed to be said aloud. "The Justice League is compromised. Either one of our own planted this chip, or they helped someone else to do it. This was an inside job."

Batman could see the exact moment that Diana accepted what he was saying. A huge flush of anger sprang across her face in that second. That feeling certainly came across as she practically shouted the next words. " _Who_? Who would betray us like this? And why would they want to hurt Wildcat and Black Canary?"

"I don't know," Batman answered honestly. "I don't even know if that was their endgame. In fact, I very much doubt it was. It seems like an awful lot of trouble to go through for that."

"Then what, Bruce?" Diana pressed for more. She clearly wanted answers just as much as he did. Perhaps, if nothing else, she was just desperate for them both to be proved wrong. "What _is_ going on?"

"The droids are our best lead on that," Batman was quick to bring her up to speed, or at least as much as he could. He was right with what he had said earlier. Despite all the worries going through his mind, he still trusted her implicitly. A part of him was wondering when it was exactly that that had happened. No matter how friendly he had gotten with Superman and the others, there had always been that part of him that had been wary, that had been suspicious of what they might be capable of doing. That part had once existed for Diana too, but now he knew for sure that it was gone. In truth, that worried him. But right now it wasn't something he was going to do anything about. Right now, he could well need her help. Particularly if she was indeed the only ally he could rely on. "Whoever it was that did this, the chip wasn't their only action. What I found was merely an inhibiter to stop us undoing what the assailant had done. That means that the droids must have had their safety systems deactivated from another source, that the programme telling them to launch an all-out assault on League personnel is somewhere else. I suspect that that programme is in the droids themselves, individually built in so that it would be harder to eradicate without the remote access. If it is, then our best chance is that the programmer got sloppy, and they left something else in there that can point us towards exactly who it is. If we're really lucky, we might even find some access codes sat waiting for us."

Batman was already moving before he had finished talking. In next to no time he was over by the wall. Thankfully it seemed that the robots had missed this part when it came to all of the collateral damage they had done around the room. That meant he had no trouble hitting the button to reveal the computer that lay embedded in there, nor in booting the terminal up. However, as he drew the wires from the terminal ready to plug in a droid to view the data in its memory banks, he paused to turn back to Diana, who was still stood exactly where she had been. She was clearly still taking this all in.

"Little help?"

The droids were heavy. Batman would struggle to move them into place on his own, especially in a hurry. However, for Diana it was easy. In next to no time, she had flown across the room, a deactivated robot in her arms. She was soon setting it down right at Batman's side, and he didn't pause before plugging the wires in.

"So how easy do you think it's going to be to spot what we need in there?" Wonder Woman was asking. The screens had already come alive. Streams of binary and programming code had begun scrolling past on it as the robot's base data was put in display, the initiating of the connection Batman would need to begin the hunt. However, things never got that far.

"Not long," Batman growled out, starting to feel his paranoia getting stronger than ever. The connection didn't have time to complete. Before Batman could begin to type in the commands to find out what he needed to know, the entire code began to delete itself. Batman frantically began hitting keys, but it was all to no avail. However, even before the last line was gone, something else came up on the screen. It was a video, and clearly one that was meant to be found. Batman understood straight away. This had been put in there at the same time that the robots had been reprogrammed. _This_ was what the robots had been reprogrammed for in the first place. It was a message, a message from the man who was behind all of this, a message clearly designed for Batman and Batman alone to be the one to find it.

"Oh no," Diana breathed at the sight of that face emerging onto the screen. That oddly pasty face, with its huge, red-lipped grin. A face that had been plaguing Batman and the world for years. Even people as strong as Wonder Woman and Superman had come to acknowledge just how dangerous that madman could be in his own way. And here he was, the man behind the robots, the man in the message.

The Joker.

" _Helloooo? Is this thing on? Are you there Batsy? Who am I kidding, of_ course _you are! How could you resist another chance to hear from_ me _, your best pal in the whole world! After all, how long has it been? It seems like decades._ Ever since you had old Ace try to fry my brains out! _But, hoohoo, what a laugh that must have been for you! Driving the madman crazy... Got to hand it to you Bats, it was a_ classic _! And now, because of that,_ it's time to _really_ hand it to you.

" _Oh, Batsy, if only you knew. If only you knew all that I've been doing these last weeks. You see, I know all about your little secret. I know_ _you lied about what happened with that whole energy cloud thing a couple of months back. I know about you and Wonder Babe. And I've got to say, I couldn't be happier for you! I mean,_ what a catch _! I bet you've been having plenty of_ Bat-fun _with that one, if you know what I mean…_

 _"_ _But that's just where my problem starts. After all the years, all that we've been through,_ no one _knows you like_ I _do, Bats! I_ know _that you can't like being happy like this. It's just not_ you _. Otherwise you'd laugh at more of my jokes. So I've arranged a little treat, just for you. You might want to come back to Gotham for it. I'd hate for you to miss all the_ blood _._

 _"_ _There's going to be gallons of it. It's going to be_ glorious _! Ha! Hehehehe hahahahaha! Oh Batsy. It's all_ your fault _. It's all your fault that Gotham will burn. I've got bombs, assassins, toxins. Heck, I'd have even brought Piers Morgan if he wasn't too vile, even for_ me _! If it's harmful to the world, you name it and I've brought it to Gotham, just for you! I'm going to make this city suffer. I'm going to make the people hurt so bad they won't know what's really going on! But, no one can say the Joker doesn't know how to play along. I'll give you time Bats. Time before I unleash it all. Just you try to stop me. I_ want _you to try to stop me. That's the point. It'll be_ fun _. After all, you can't possibly enjoy Wonder Babe's company over_ mine _. Otherwise you wouldn't keep coming after me so vigorously!_

 _"_ _I'll warn you though, Bats. This is only meant for you. I've got bombs throughout this rat infested city._ All over it _. I know it's the same trick I pulled back in Vegas, but what the hell. What comic doesn't ever reuse top material at least once? The point is, if I spot anyone but you and the usual crowd in Gotham, any sign of a cape without a cowl, any of your other Leaguey Weagueys, hell, even your little Bat brats, and I hit the trigger. Not one single other recognised_ super- _zero! And no trying to evacuate either or the same'll happen! So_ play nice _, now._

 _"_ And get your Bat-butt down to Gotham! _Byesies! Huhuhuhuhahahahahahaha!"_

* * *

Joker. Just a man. No powers. No training. No genius intellect. No grand fighting skills. And yet he was still virtually the deadliest man on Earth.

And he was back. The Joker was like a trusty boomerang. He just kept on coming back. Only, from the sound of things, today was not going to be just another one of those times. From the sound of things, today was going to be even worse than normal. Or rather, even worse than normal for the Joker.

That pasty white face had vanished from the screen, but it had taken a full minute before it had. Throughout that time, the Joker had been laughing, laughing on in that maniacal way that only he could. It was a laugh that made even Wonder Woman fearful. She had by no means Batman's experience with the Joker. In fact, she had hardly had any direct contact with him at all. Batman and Gotham was very much the clown's focus. But she had once shared Bruce's memories during the energy cloud incident, and she had heard all of the stories. They were stories that meant clowns really were things that ought to be feared.

Every second that the Joker was on the screen, Diana could see that Batman wanted to punch the face off of the display. His fists were well and truly balled. No one could make Batman angrier than the Joker could, no matter what they did. Even when the message was over, Bruce took a moment to react. It was a moment when his jaw became more set than ever, when he went completely still. It was a moment where he was clearly letting all that he had just seen and heard sink in. However, when he did finally turn back to Wonder Woman, she knew exactly what he was going to say.

"I need you to run the hunt for whoever reprogrammed the droids and planted the inhibitor chip."

He didn't directly say it, but of course he was going. There was never any doubt about that. Gotham was calling. Gotham needed him. And Gotham would always come first. Wonder Woman had learnt that lesson a long time ago, long before she knew how much she cared for him. The last year hadn't changed any of that. No matter how close she and Bruce got, she would never tear him away from Gotham. She would never try to either. Bruce's efforts to save his city definitely had her deepest respect. Not only that, but it was also deeply needed in such a troubled place. Almost a year ago she had told Bruce that she wouldn't try to change him, for exactly those sorts of reasons. That wasn't about to change now.

No matter how much she wanted it to. All sorts of thoughts had started ploughing through Wonder Woman's mind as soon as the Joker's face had appeared on that screen. She knew this was going to be dangerous. Whatever it was the Joker had in store for Batman down there, it wasn't going to be easy. With the Joker it never was. Batman may beaten the Joker many times before, he may be more than capable of looking after himself, but that was no guarantee that he'd do so again. There were no guarantees that Bruce would survive what lay in store for him in his city. If anyone could, Bruce could, but the Joker had promised blood. From what Wonder Woman knew, that was something that _had_ to be taken seriously. Yes, the madman was always more than ready to kill or maim, but when he gave warnings of it, it was almost certain that someone was going to get hurt, even with Batman trying to stop him. The fact that Joker had gone through the trouble he had to give Batman that message made that threat all the more real.

And it also made Wonder Woman start to worry about who exactly the Joker's target really was.

And yet, there was nothing she could do. Even if she was willing to try and talk Bruce out of this, there was no way in hell that she would stop him. And there was no way he would let her go with him either. He never even let metahumans _into_ Gotham in their hero guises, let alone to help him fight the crime and the darkness. No matter the stakes. With the Joker's threat to blow the city if he saw any hero other than Batman in Gotham, there was no chance of Batman changing that policy now.

Diana may be just about the only person in the world potentially able to change Bruce's mind – the only one other than Alfred, in fact – but she wasn't about to even try. Right now, Gotham needed Batman far more than she did. All she could do was have faith that he could pull this off. That, and to try to unearth who was behind the robots attack on Canary and Wildcat. After all, Joker couldn't have come up here and done it himself. Someone had to have helped him. Someone that the Justice League had thought that they could trust.

After a moment's pause, Wonder Woman nodded to symbolise her acceptance of the plan. That was enough for Batman to continue.

"I'll arrange for someone to come and help you up here. Until we know who reprogrammed the robots for the Joker, we need to quarantine the entire Justice League. Now that we know the Joker's involved, it's more vital than ever that we lockdown whoever's helping him before they do any more damage. Since there's so many up here who could be behind this, you'll need help to ensure they're all kept in check while the hunt is on."

"Superman, Shayera, Flash, GL, they can help me," Wonder Woman quickly added to Batman's point. She was in no doubts at all that the other founding members of the Justice League were trustworthy. However, the next second she was taken aback. It seemed that Bruce had other ideas.

"No, we can't rule out that they're the ones who are responsible for this." He broke off for the briefest moment as Wonder Woman flashed him a look of complete disbelief, perhaps even leaning a bit towards frustration too. Batman certainly was paranoid, but the look Wonder Woman gave him also meant he felt the need to quickly explain. It was a prime example of how no one but Alfred could get to him like she could. "Princess, we've both been in this game for long enough. We've both seen plenty of what can happen out there. The world isn't as black and white as it once seemed. There are all sorts of possibilities here. We can't rule out mind control, duplicates, repressed mental manipulation, clones, all these sorts of factors which could mean we can't trust them anymore. Until we _can_ rule those things out or we find whoever is responsible, we can't trust anyone else in the League. You may want to summon J'onn back from Mars. I've left your communicator active, set up like mine to intercept any signals from within the Watchtower. You can use it to contact J'onn, and your codes can reactivate the one in the main computer. With his telepathy he could deduce in moments whether I'm right to be cautious or not, and we know that on his planet he's beyond the Joker's influence. But whether you use J'onn or not, Superman and the rest stay locked down until we know they're not a part of this."

Wonder Woman was not convinced. For a long moment, she just stared at him, as if challenging Batman to change the plan. She still didn't believe, not even slightly, that Superman and the rest were anything but trustworthy. Only one thing stopped her from arguing the point more. Until the rest of the Justice League were called for by the people of Earth once again, it would do no harm for them to lay in wait until they were all proven innocent, or the guilty party was caught. If the world came calling though, _then_ Wonder Woman would argue the point, at least for those she had complete faith in. For now, though, she would accept Bruce's command.

And she would let her moment of frustration about his paranoia pass too. Especially as she realised that it made the fact he was trusting her so explicitly all the more meaningful.

"Then who are you sending?" she asked instead. "I mean, if we're going to be so suspicious of our own, we can't rule out that the robots were altered by a Leaguer who has since returned to the surface. There's no guarantees that it was someone who is still here."

"Which is exactly why I'll be sending in someone with no ties to the Justice League," Batman answered. "I'll be sending you Nightwing. He has the skills to be able to unpick the robots code and handle the League. And he has the experience of the Joker to know to expect anything."

"Alright, Bruce, we'll do this your way," Wonder Woman accepted with a sigh. She had never had any direct dealings with Nightwing. She knew his story, knew that he was the original Robin all grown up and now operating outside of Batman's shadow in his own city. She also knew that he was a very skilled hero in his own right, and that Bruce was sending her very able help. "Just know that if things change, if the Joker is lying with his threat, I'm just a call away from coming down there too."

"I know, Princess," Batman softly returned. There was an odd note to his voice all of sudden. It was as if, now that they had settled on a plan, he was taking a second to let his real self, the man behind the Bat, talk to her again. "But I can't let you into Gotham. It's not like the rest of the world. It can't be saved by goodness, by the light. These people, the Joker and the other maniacs that plague Gotham; they're beyond the darkness of the other villains the League face. They're shadows in the dark, beyond any sense of morality, beyond any sense of sanity. Its people like them which meant the Bat needed to exist, to fight fire with fire, darkness with darkness. Princess, Gotham is the one place I can't let you in. No matter how ready I am, Gotham isn't. So no matter what happens, I'm going to need you to stay out of my city tonight. You're too good for it."

"Whatever you say, Bruce," Wonder Woman commented back. She wasn't too sure she believed what he had just said, but she also wasn't about to argue with him right now. There was an important message that she wanted to get across, one that she didn't want to get lost in an argument. "Just don't forget that, no matter what you might sometimes like to think, you're not alone."

"I know, Princess," Bruce repeated, his voice still oddly soft considering his cowl was still on. "I know. But I have to go. The Joker isn't known for his patience. I can't risk him getting tired of waiting and destroying Gotham just for a sick laugh."

So this was it. This day had started out so well, but now all hopes of getting to spend more time together at the Manor had been eroded. Their day that was meant to be spent together was now going to be ended apart. It was going to end with another mission, a mission which had them hunting one of their own and facing all sorts of chaos. This wasn't how Wonder Woman had wanted things to go. But then, this was the day that had been handed to them. They would have to deal with it.

"I understand, Bruce," Diana told him, looking deep behind his lenses and into his eyes beyond. She had faith in him, but she also wasn't naïve enough to rule out the possibility that this was the last time they would be seeing each other. That clearly seemed to be what the Joker wanted, after all. She then began to move closer to him, slowly but determinedly. They weren't far apart to begin with, but she was closing the gap, and Bruce wasn't backing away. In only seconds, she was close enough to feel his breath against her skin. It felt warm, and very comforting. If only she could stay this close to him for longer. For far, far longer. "Just… be careful down there."

She wanted to say more. She wanted to tell him to make sure he came back to her in one piece. But she also knew that that wasn't something that Bruce would need telling, nor something that he would particularly want to hear. He was too stoic for that sort of display. But what she had said had clearly delivered the message to him.

For he then closed the gap between them the rest of the way. And then they both kissed.

It was a few moments before they broke apart. When they did, they still both held each other for a long moment. They both spent that time simply gazing into each other's faces, Bruce gently brushing a lone stray hair back out of Diana's. It was an odd moment. It was almost as if they were saying a very silent goodbye. A goodbye that neither of them dared to put into words, almost as if they were scared that it would wind up being a final one. At long last, though, Bruce broke the silence.

"Nightwing will be here as soon as he can," he said, his voice barely a whisper. "Make sure you find who reprogrammed those droids. Make sure you're careful yourself."

"I'll take of care of things this end, Bruce," Diana confirmed with a nod. "Now go. Take care of Gotham. Keep your people safe."

Batman nodded himself then. It was a nod of both agreement and finality. It was a nod that signalled that it was time for him to leave. After waiting just to take another moment with her, Batman finally let her go. With that, he walked away, his cape billowing behind him. Wonder Woman watched him go, but he didn't turn to look back. Soon he was out of view, heading off on his way back to the teleporters and to Gotham beyond.

Wonder Woman didn't leap into action herself, though, even if she was sure she was able to get back to work before Nightwing got here. She spent the moment still picturing Bruce, picturing the life they had begun to build together, picturing the future they could go on to build.

And wondering if Bruce would be able to save that future, or if the Joker would manage to destroy everything.

* * *

 ** _A/N;_**

 _ **So first up, apologies to those eager fans who've been waiting for this, I wound up being away last week and unable to get it ready for you. But here it is, and I hope you're all about to tell me just how worth the wait it was! Or whatever, you want to say really, but just pour in the love of those reviews. The response to this one has been knocking me socks off. Here's hoping you all keep those reviews flying on in!**_


	7. Chapter 6: Gotham Calling

**Chapter 6: Gotham Calling**

He arrived back in the teleporter room as fast as humanly possible, at least as far as humans who hadn't been granted any special powers went. As he moved, he passed several members of the Justice League in the corridors, both civilians and heroes. He gave them all a glare as they walked by, a glare that delivered a clear message. Those people had obviously been told already that they had to be locked down. They knew they had to get to either the commissary or crew quarters, as applicable. The glare was the message to tell them to hurry up and get there fast. As soon as it fell on any of them, they very noticeably sped up.

By the time Batman returned to the teleporter room, it was to find it was otherwise empty. Good. Before he did anything else though, he first checked the teleporter logs. He had to make sure that no one had escaped before he had got there. Thankfully, the logs showed the teleporters had not been activated since he, Diana, GL and Shayera had returned from Macau. To make sure things stayed that way as much as they needed them to, Batman quickly encoded the teleporter controls so that only two sets of Justice League command codes would be able to activate it, his and Diana's. Whoever it was that had reprogrammed the robots, whoever it was that had helped the Joker, they weren't going anywhere. Not until they were caught.

Which was why Batman still didn't teleport back down to Gotham straight away. He still had one thing to take care of first, one last thing to do that would be important for Diana's efforts up here, one last thing he had to do before he could allow his focus to fall fully onto Gotham.

"Batman to Nightwing. Respond."

"Well someone's suddenly in a bad mood," Dick Grayson's voice spoke out through Batman's communicator only a few seconds later. It wouldn't have done for long, but night would have fallen in Bludhaven by now. No doubts Dick would be getting ready to become active in _his_ city. That meant they ought to be free to talk. Still, Batman would never be able to talk as _normally_ as Dick always found a way to do. That all came down to one simple fact. Despite their similar losses at such young ages, Dick Grayson was still a good man. "After what I thought you were meant to be up to these last couple of days, I was expecting your voice to be far more chipper."

"Something's come up," Batman cut to the chase, not raising to Nightwing's bait. "The Justice League need help on the Watchtower. I'm needed in Gotham. That means you're the one best suited to pull this off."

"OK… First of all, thanks for the compliment. Secondly, you know I'm not actually anything to do with the League right? I mean, aren't there meant to be all sorts of people with all sorts of skills up there? Not that I'm not willing to help, but why do you need me? What's going on?"

"You'll be given all of the details when you arrive up here," Batman dodged the question. He needed to speed this along. He needed both of them to get to work. "But it has to be you. The rest of the Justice League have to be taken out of play on this one. Can I count on you to help?"

"Of course. You always can, you know that," Dick's voice came back, sounding almost insulted. "Even when we have our differences, you know I'll always be there to do the right thing. Just give me a minute to get kitted out and then have me… _brought up_ there, however you do it. Robin can cover Bludhaven, unless you need him too."

"Understood. Robin can stay where he is, for now," Batman growled back in response. Now that Nightwing had agreed to come on board, he knew that it was time to move things along. He was already starting to programme in the computers, setting the co-ordinates to send him back to the Batcave. However, Dick wasn't done just yet.

"You would tell me if something's up though, right? This is kinda unusual. You can talk to me about anything, you know. I know the last couple of months haven't exactly been… _normal_. Not how you know normal anyway. But even taking that into account, you still sound a little odd. It's not something to do with Wonder Woman is it?"

"She's _fine_ ," Batman growled out, not wanting to have this conversation now, for all kinds of reasons. "In fact, she'll be the one to meet you when you get up here. She'll tell you everything. But I have to get to Gotham. Just help out however she says."

"Alright, alright, I can see when I'm getting too personal for you," Dick backed off. "Like I said, I'll be ready in just a minute. Whatever's going on, I'll get to the bottom of it. Besides, I think it's about time I got to know this new lady in your life anyway. Working with her ought to illuminating enough."

"Expect her to contact you soon to arrange teleport," Batman replied, determined to end this now, so much so that he ignored Dick's ending comment. His finger was already hovering over the button to cut the line. "I've got to go."

Batman did not wait for Dick to say goodbye. He had delivered the message. Right now, that was all that mattered. Without further ado, he cut the signal. But he didn't stop hitting the buttons there. The Joker had sent him a message, a warning. That recording could well prove useful again, may well hold some hidden clue as to how to stop whatever the clown had in mind, before the plan could be put even deeper into action. That was why he electronically transferred a copy of that message down to the Batcave via the still active link to the training droid.

Once that was done, though, it was time for him to depart. It was time for him to leave Diana and the rest of the Justice League up here to handle their own problem.

For with the Joker loose and clearly up to no good, he and Gotham had a very serious problem of their own.

* * *

Even after all this time, Barbara Gordon still felt a little giddy every time she stepped into the Batcave. Alfred Pennyworth could see as much. It was plain as day in her face whenever she walked down those stairs from the Manor. Tonight had definitely been no different.

Bruce, the master of this house, the heir of Thomas and Martha Wayne and the closest thing Alfred had to a son of his own, had departed several hours ago, summoned away on another mission for the Justice League. The Batman had been needed to save the world again, and he had answered the call, as he had always answered that call. What was more, from the fact they were all still here with no apocalypse befalling the globe, Alfred was convinced that the Batman had been successful once again.

But that didn't mean he didn't worry. No one knew better than Alfred Pennyworth just how much effort Bruce Wayne put into being the Batman, how much training and rigorous drills he put his body through. The man was certainly capable, but he was also just a man. A man Alfred had had to sew up more times than once. A man of flesh and blood. A man without immortality and invulnerability. A man who could so easily be killed one of these days, doing what Batman did. No matter how skilful Bruce might get, that spectre always loomed over him. Alfred would always worry that one night Bruce might not be able to come home.

And yet Alfred was also feeling great pride and jubilation given recent developments in his master's life. For years Alfred had feared Bruce becoming lost to the very same darkness he so often fought, of Bruce falling into a spiral of terrors in his quest for revenge. Every day, though, Bruce fought to keep himself away from becoming a part of that darkness with greater determination than even the gods could manage. The continuation of that was a joy to behold, but the source of Alfred's latest sense of great pride in Bruce came from something else, something far more recent. For years Alfred had pushed for Bruce to embrace the Man as much as the Bat. At last he seemed to be acting on that message. And he'd be with her right now.

To put it simply, Alfred very definitely approved of setting an extra place at the table for Princess Diana.

But it was very evident that tonight would not be the night for that sort of thing, even if that had originally been the plan. Tonight wasn't the first time that criminal activities curtailed Alfred's dinner plans. Gotham had descended into the evening and still Bruce and Diana had not returned. That meant, simply, that the dinner would not be happening. When Bruce did get back tonight, provided League business did not keep him exceedingly busy, he would no doubt be going straight back out into action in Gotham.

After all, it was for exactly that purpose for which Barbara Gordon had arrived at the Manor over half an hour ago. With young Tim Drake out in Bludhaven with Dick, she was the only active member of Batman's entourage set to accompany him out into the city tonight. Of course, Bruce would never make out that he needed the help. In fact, he would often act to the contrary, and most of the time that could well be true. But with all the chaos that Gotham city could throw up without even a moment's warning, Alfred was glad that Bruce had such able help, ready and waiting for his call. Two heads, after all, were better than one. And with back-up, there was a better chance of Bruce making it through until the morning, safe and sound. Especially when it was one of those nights when it felt like the Bat-symbol was just as central a piece of the night sky as the moon itself.

Unfortunately, as Alfred was about to find out, tonight was to be exactly one of those nights.

"I'm giving him ten more minutes, Alfred," Barbara impatiently muttered. She was sat in Batman's chair, right in front of the giant Batcomputer. She had long since gotten changed into her Batgirl get up and was now waiting around for Bruce to show before heading out on patrol with him. Clearly she was getting fed up with the wait, so much so she had taken a rather relaxed posture with her feet up on the console. Alfred, who had taken to cleaning the Batcave in his own impatient wait for Bruce's safe return home, was quick to brush them back to the floor where they belonged. "I mean, it's not like the scum of Gotham's going to be waiting around for him to get back from halfway around the world, or wherever he is. Ten more minutes and then I–"

But she never got to say exactly what it was she would do. A momentary sound and a flash of light interrupted her. The next second, both Barbara and Alfred were looking up into the cowled face of Batman himself, suddenly stood tall and – even to Alfred, though he'd never admit it – menacingly in the middle of the cave.

"Miss, I do believe he heard you," Alfred dryly commented. He knew that Bruce wouldn't want Barbara out there on her own if it could be avoided. He would worry about her even more than Alfred so often worried about him.

"You're not going anywhere tonight," Bruce growled, still embracing his full Batman voice despite the fact only Alfred and Barbara were anywhere near earshot. He was immediately marching forward towards the computer, plenty of purpose in every stride. Alfred recognised all the signs. Right now, Bruce was very focused, even more so than usual. Before Bruce even said anything more, Alfred could tell that there was something big on his mind, and Alfred very much doubted that this was anything personal. "I transmitted you a recording we received on the Watchtower. I suggest you watch it now."

"A message from the Watchtower? Why do I get the impression that this won't just be them announcing that you won the League's annual charity raffle?" Barbara commented, though her eyes did become locked on the screen as she hit the buttons. It didn't take her long to find the transmission that Batman had mentioned. She was certainly skilled with computers. Perhaps even more skilful than Master Bruce himself. However, once that message starting playing up there on the main computer screen, nothing else was on Alfred's mind.

The Joker. It was the Joker. _Again_. The single greatest bane in Bruce's life, and the lives of all the citizens of Gotham. A homicidal maniac more likely than any of the rest to go after Bruce's head. From the sound of things, that was also exactly what he was planning to do. Sure, he had dressed it up as an attack on the people of Gotham, but the message was clear. This was all about Bruce, some sadistic plot of the Joker's apparently set off by the blossoming relationship between Batman and Wonder Woman. None of that was a good sign. Alfred knew full well how that would be making Bruce feel. Thousands if not millions of lives threatened, just because he finally allowed himself a chance of happiness. Alfred was worried that that would end up meaning Bruce retreated away from that happiness. However, that was something to be dealt with in the morning.

As Alfred silently watched the recording end, he could tell that the Joker was plotting that there would be many people who did not live to see that morning. Making sure Master Bruce did so had to be Alfred's first concern. In fact, he was already feeling as if he should be getting the bandages prepared.

"I've sent Nightwing to help Wonder Woman track this from the League side of things," Batman's voice echoed out the moment the recording finished. Alfred hadn't noticed that he had moved away. From the way Barbara jumped, she hadn't either. They had both been too occupied with the recording to see that he had gone to restock his utility belt with all manner of batarangs, smoke capsules and the like. Now he was done with that. Now he was ready to go and face this threat. "The Joker somehow managed to infiltrate security up there to deliver this message, so we can't rule out that this goes beyond Gotham."

"But you have a plan, right?" Barbara was quick to question. "I mean, you're not seriously taking this on without help are you? I'm coming to help you, right?"

"No," Batman very firmly stressed, unleashing his gaze at her in a way that made the point all the more clear. It was not up for discussion. Alfred did not know what to make of that, but he did not argue. The Joker was certainly mad enough to carry through with his threat of blowing the whole city if any hero but Batman showed their face. But then this could well prove to be one of those rare nights where Batman needed the help. "No one but me enters Gotham tonight. Robin stays in Bludhaven. Nightwing is on the Watchtower, as is Diana. The rest of the Justice League are locked down. And you stay right here. I go to Gotham alone."

"You can't seriously expect me to just sit idly by around here?!" Barbara was quick to exclaim. "I can help! You know I can!"

"I do," Bruce pointed out before Barbara could get too indignant. "But you'll help me from here. There are more angles to this than one, even taking the Justice League side out of the equation. Gotham is a very large city, and the Joker's threat was very _imprecise._ I'm going to need eyes and ears everywhere. I'm going to need to know what he's doing and where, even before he does. I need you here, working the Batcomputer. Monitor the city's CCTV and traffic cams with facial recognition, run cross-references on all records, including financial, on the Joker and all his known allies and associates. And on top of that, I need you to study every inch of the Joker's recording. There might be some clues hidden in there that we haven't picked up on yet. I want you to find them. I'm counting on you, Barbara. Alfred was never very good with computers."

"Some of us like to spend our free time away from dark rooms and bright screens, Sir," Alfred quipped at that, pretending like he felt offended, but what Bruce had said was a good sign. First of all, it was true. It was no insult to the butlers' own ability to say that Barbara was far more skilful than Alfred was at all the things Bruce had just described. However, it was the fact that Bruce had said it with the faintest hint of light-heartedness in his tone that was most encouraging to Alfred. It spoke volumes. It said that Bruce wasn't too lost in guilt that whatever was going to happen tonight was his fault. It meant that his head was clear. He was going to need that tonight.

"I guess I can handle that," Barbara responded to Bruce as if Alfred had never said anything. "But I'll still be right here if the impossible happens and you change your mi–"

For the second time in only a matter of minutes, Barbara never got the chance to finish her sentence. All on its own the computer had whirred into life again, making an attention grabbing sound as the image on the screen suddenly changed. Alfred knew immediately what it was. He had seen it happen often enough before. It was a preprogramed setting, a command embedded in as a form of alert whenever the computer registered a sign from miles away via its access to all manner of recording devices in Gotham. More specifically, it was an alert that the Bat-signal atop the GCPD had just been lit. Alfred knew that in all likelihood, that meant only one thing.

The Joker was waiting no longer. His scheme had begun.

Alfred was by no means the only one to pick up on that either. By the time he turned back away from the computer, Bruce was over by the Batmobile and ready to go.

"Get to work," he called across the short distance as he took his seat in his glorified car. "Let me know as soon as you have something."

That was all he said. No goodbyes, not even an au revoir. But then, that was no different to any other night. In fact, Alfred would probably have been far more worried if Bruce _had_ stopped to say farewell. This way, at least, meant that he was still planning on living through the night. And Batman's plans were usually very _rigorous_.

The squeal of tyres and a roaring engine was soon filling the cave as the Batmobile sped away, out into the night, leaving Alfred and Barbara once again alone. However, a lot had changed in the last few minutes.

"Well, you heard the man, Alfred," Barbara said as she immediately got to work. No longer was she using the Batcomputer as a foot stool. Suddenly it had become her tool, her weapon. Suddenly she had plenty of reason to become Batgirl rather than innocent, young Barbara. Not that she was as bad in that regard as Bruce, but all of them had some element of it when it came to their masks. "I've got a lot of scanning to do. And if you're not too against the dark rooms and bright screens, I wouldn't mind an extra set of eyes to help me sift through it all for any signs of what the Joker's up too."

"I be delighted to help, Miss," Alfred replied, positioning himself right over her shoulder to signify as such. Of course he would help. He would help however he could. He would do whatever it took to ensure that Bruce Wayne survived, and hopefully got to live the life he deserved to have. Alfred had to ensure that Bruce got to live the life that he had only just started to embrace, the life of true love. If that meant that he spent the entire night sitting here watching computer screens and video streams, then so be it. _Whatever it took_. Still, that was no reason for him to act as gloomy as Bruce often liked to do, especially with Barbara there to keep company, with her spirits to be kept high. "You know, being here like this, trying to keep Master Bruce informed of everything that's going on before he could possibly humanly know, reminds me of the old stories of the Oracles of Delphi…"

* * *

There was a definite chill to the night air. The rains hadn't come back but their earlier downpour had left everywhere feeling dank and depressing. Then again, that wasn't exactly uncommon in Gotham City.

Jim Gordon took another swig of his coffee. The signal had been lit. Now was the part where he had to wait for Batman to show. It wasn't a part he liked, not at all. Really, he didn't like the fact that he had to light it at all, that this city was in such a sorry state that the police so often had to ask for help from a masked vigilante. But that was the state Gotham was in, the hand that they had all been dealt. Considering that, Gordon was very glad that he had an ally of Batman's standard to be able to call upon, whenever he was needed. He just had to wait for him to show. It never normally took too long, either. The only reason why he wouldn't be here soon was if he was already out there, dealing with the latest danger.

Detective Bullock was looking far more impatient. He kept yanking his hat from his head to have a scratch at his scalp, or played around with his trademark toothpick, seemingly needing to keep his hands busy. Jim could understand the sentiment. Tonight's threat did have the capability of making all the others look like child's play. Jim already had his people out on the streets starting to deal with it, but for this he would need _specialised_ help.

Specialised help that always liked to make an entrance.

"Commissioner," the all too familiar voice was suddenly growling from somewhere behind the two lawmen. Jim Gordon was too used to that exact scenario by now to let his surprise show. Bullock, however, yelped as he almost leapt out of his skin. Both men turned to see the Batman sweeping towards them, looking as imposing as ever. The help had arrived.

"Joker," Gordon very simply said. The word alone was enough to convey to Batman the amount of trouble that they were facing. The clown could never be taken lightly. Never. "He sent us a message as night was falling. We tried to keep it from the public, but… I think you'd best see it for yourself."

He pulled the file out from the depths of his trench coat at that. This would be best summed up via the pictures. Pictures that Gordon didn't particularly want to see again. Batman took the file from Gordon's outstretched hand, extracting the contents. There was barely a flicker of change on the Dark Knight's stoic face, but Gordon could still tell that his ally was as disgusted at what he was seeing as he was.

Gordon could remember the sight vividly. It would be a while before it wouldn't be locked in his mind's eye. It had happened minutes after the sun went down. A black van with no plates had pulled up in front of the GCPD, unidentifiable. It had stopped, but not for long. Only for long enough to dump the body on the front steps, in fact. The police had immediately picked up the message. Only waiting long enough to get the record of the crime scene, they had quickly moved the body inside to minimise the public exposure, to prevent a panic.

The corpse had not been in a good state, but there was just enough left around for it to be identifiable. It was a man that Jim Gordon had been forced to deal with far too often. Dr. Bartholomew, leading psychiatrist and mental health expert over at Arkham Asylum. It was the man responsible for trying to cure people as deranged as Poison Ivy, the Riddler and Two Face. It was the man who had the unenviable task of trying to cure the Joker. The corpse's identity alone therefore delivered the message that the Joker was lose. The state of the body told the rest of the tale. It was clear that Bartholomew had died recently, and he had not died well. Limbs broken, torso battered, skin torn almost to shreds. But worst of all was the face, the face with that horrific, macabre grin burned across it. It was unmistakeable. Joker toxin. The Joker definitely meant business.

"Taped to his chest. What was on that disc?"

Typically Batman. Gordon knew that seeing what had been done to that innocent man would be making Batman's blood boil, but Batman had shown no sign of it. He had only asked a question on something else he had seen. He had stuck to the case as if there was no human feelings to this. He had asked about the DVD that they had found strapped to Dr. Bartholomew's chest.

"A message from the Joker," Gordon answered Batman's query. "He says he's got bombs and guns for hire all over the city. He's playing some sort of sick and twisted game on us all, challenging us – challenging _you_ – to try and stop him before people get killed. Nothing about who or when precisely, but it's happening tonight. Also says that you're the only one of these modern day _superheroes_ allowed to help us stop him, but he never said the GCPD can't be involved. I've already pulled in everyone I can for extra duty. Got as many bodies on the streets as I can looking for the Joker's bombs and mercenaries, but we've got nothing yet. The cities too big without knowing more about where or who the Joker's targeting."

"I'll need a copy of that recording for analysis," Batman growled out, sticking to his own train of thought. "I received a similar message from Joker. Analysing the differences may help us to track him down."

"Done," Gordon quickly agreed to that request. It made sense to him. However, Bullock had clearly had enough. The man had always had a problem with Batman. Harvey was a very old fashioned cop, a cop who felt Batman was as much a menace as he was a saviour. There were times when that sentiment boiled over. The anger that had grown in Bullock upon the discovery of Bartholomew's body had made this one of those times.

"Now see here, Bat freak!" he yelled, stepping forward and prodding his finger hard into Batman's chest. He even shouted so much he spat out his toothpick at Batman too. Gordon had seen Batman in action enough to know that that was not the wisest of moves, but thankfully Batman was not reacting. Yet. "None of this would be happening if it weren't for you! You set these freaks and weirdos off! If it weren't for you, the sickos wouldn't even _exist_! So you can at least show a little concern! You could at least act like you cared!"

For a moment, Gordon watched on, half expecting Batman to lash out, to force Bullock away from him. However, instead Batman spent a long moment simply glaring down Bullock's way until Bullock himself took a step back, even turning to avoid having to look at that glare any more. Only then did Batman turn back to Gordon.

"I'll want a copy of your deployment grid too," he said, almost as if Bullock hadn't said a word. "I'll keep you informed of the progress I make in tracking the clown down."

"Sir!"

A new voice blurted out. It sounded like it had just waited for Batman to finish his sentence before it had spoken, but it also sounded urgent. Gordon looked up to see Detective Renee Montoya rushing across the rooftop, a rather despondent look on her face.

"What is it Montoya?" Gordon asked. He knew instantly that he needed to hear this, even if he probably wouldn't want to.

"Sir, we've got reports of a shooting across the city," Montoya informed him. He was right. He hadn't wanted to hear this. Joker's attacks had begun, and had claimed their first victim. "We're hearing there's at least one fatality."

"God damn it, Bats! This is all you faul–!" Bullock erupted again. He spun back around, looking ready to attack once more. However, by the time he had turned, it was to find nothing there waiting for him. Gordon turned to look then too. Montoya's arrival had caught his attention. As usual, that was always enough of a window for Batman to depart unnoticed.

This time, though, Gordon didn't have to comment about Batman's disappearing act. He knew where the Bat had gone, and he hardly shared Bullock's anger. Batman had gone to investigate. And hopefully catch the scumbag who did it. The Joker too. Otherwise, Gotham was going to be facing all sorts of trouble. Gordon knew that. He knew that, if the Joker went unopposed, this was just going to be the first victim of many.

It was days like this when Gordon was _very_ glad that he had an ally of Batman's standard to be able to call upon. Tonight, he definitely needed it.

They all did.

* * *

 _ **A/N**_

 _ **Wow. Guys and gals, those reviews are really flying in this time around. I'm loving it. Seeing that review counter go up really makes my day! So...time for you all to do it again? The thanks go out in advance!**_

 _ **Oh, and anyone interested in some bonuses, check out the thread I have on this story on the BatmanWonderWoman forum. Details are all in there.**_


	8. Chapter 7: Lockdown

**Chapter 7: Lockdown**

The doctors had started getting to work as soon as Flash had laid Wildcat down on the gurney. They all gathered around him, setting off on their emergency work to keep the battered man alive. Flash had no idea what they were up to, even as the doctor's kept each other verbally informed of all the wounds they were finding and what they were doing to fix it all. Words like broken this, ruptured that, bleeding here and punctured there were enough to tell Flash that whatever it was, it was not a quick fix. Neither was there a guarantee that there _was_ a fix.

It was a good job, then, that these doctors were the best of the best. There was a reason that the Justice League had hired them to be amongst the civilian staff on the Watchtower. Doctor Susan Conway was leading the charge, the first on the scene as soon as Flash brought Wildcat through the door. After her work helping Shayera and Diana – not to mention countless civilians – when that alien had invaded from another dimension, as well as her part in looking after them all during that whole Imperium energy cloud fiasco, she was well known and trusted amongst the League. With folks like Kevin "Iceberg" Eisenhower, so named because of his frosty bedside manner, helping Doc Conway out and the vast bank of knowledge, experience and expertise shared between them all, Flash knew that if there was a chance of saving Wildcat, these guys would take it.

Black Canary was watching the doctor's work closely. Very closely. It was no secret that Wildcat was almost like a second father to her. That wasn't all of it. Flash might not know her exceptionally well, but he still knew her enough to recognise she was a very proud woman, particularly when it came down to a fight. Regardless of the fact that there had been nothing she could do about it, she would be blaming herself right now for not preventing this, for not fighting off those robots somehow and keeping Wildcat safe in the process.

Perhaps that was why she had refused to allow any of the medical staff to look at her, at least not until they knew if Wildcat was going to make it. She had shrugged all of the doctors and nurses away, sending them all to help out on her close friend. She had received wounds herself, nowhere near as bad as Wildcat but she had still taken several blows. They were just ones she was forcing herself to ignore for now, however painful they were. That meant that she was able to perch herself up on an empty bed and watch on for one of the most nervous waits of her life.

Flash wanted to help her out, but he had no idea what to say. He had carried her here on his back as he had ran from the training droids, setting her down on that gurney. After that, he had laid a hand on her shoulder delivering a clear enough message; he was there if she needed to talk. She had definitely picked up on that message, but had also made it clear that talking wasn't something she wanted to do just now. Other than getting the medics off of her, she had hardly said a word. No, all she wanted right now was to make sure that Wildcat was going to be okay, and to ensure that the rest of the Justice League were investigating what the hell had happened.

It was the second one of those that Flash took to heart. The first he could do nothing about. Not fancying sitting about here as a nervous wreck and, due to the fact there was nothing he could do to help here anymore, Flash had made up his mind. Now that Canary and Wildcat were both here with their treatment underway, it was time for him to get back out there. It was time for him to get back out to the training area and find out what had happened to make the robots go so nuts.

Or he had reckoned, if the doors to the infirmary hadn't sealed in his face before he could go anywhere. They stayed shut too, no matter how many times he hammered on the button to open them up again. And, even in just a few seconds, Flash pressed the button _a lot_.

"Err, Flash calling Batman," he spoke into his comm when he finally gave up, an idea hitting his mind that didn't make him happy. He still spoke softly though. He didn't think it'd be too smart to distract the doctors, especially if this was the bad news he feared and not just a bit of bad luck at a bad time. "The blast doors have just sealed shut on the Infirmary. I've been locked in the Medbay with the docs and the patients, and I haven't got a crystal to buy my way out. Please tell me that the little virus that drove our robot pals bonkers isn't contagious…"

"Flash, its Diana."

That hadn't been the voice Flash had been expecting to hear reply. Bats had been taking the lead with shutting the robots down, so Flash had figured he'd be the go to guy here. That was why he was surprised to hear that royally feminine voice answering his call instead of the gruff growl he had been expecting. Not that that was in any way a bad thing, of course.

"We discovered something in the Watchtower's systems that suggests the Justice League has been compromised. Batman's locked down the entire Watchtower until we can find out who by and how badly, to ensure the person responsible doesn't have a free reign around the place. That's why you've been shut in the Infirmary, and why you'll find your communicator will just get re-routed to me, whoever you try to call."

"Err, okay…" Flash's response was a simple drawl, plenty of confusion in his tone. There was also plenty of doubt in there, as well as some worry to go with it. _That_ hadn't been what he had been expecting to hear. In a whole lot of ways, he couldn't believe it. How could any of the badguys have got on the Watchtower without the League knowing? It was meant to be impossible, and as far as Flash was concerned every single member of the League was beyond reproach. They were the best of the best. None of them were sell outs. Only one thing stopped Flash from outright calling Diana on that. It was because he knew that Diana would have had the exact same train of thought. For her to be saying this and acting on it too, there must actually be something to it. And that was not a pleasant thought. "So what do I do? What's the plan?"

"I'm sorry Wally, but you're just going to have to sit tight," Wonder Woman replied again. "Keep a watch on things down there. I'll let you know as soon as we have something."

Sit tight. Great. Flash was by no means happy about that. He wasn't happy about the way this day was turning at all. Ever since the Watchtower alarm had first began to sound things had started to go very wrong, and he had an unnerving feeling that this might just be the tip of the iceberg. It might prove to be one hell of a day. Still, there was only one thing that he could actually say to Diana in response.

"Will do. Call me if you need help. And Di? I hope you're wrong."

"Me too, Wally," Diana's voice returned before the comm channel closed, sounding as serious as Flash had uncharacteristically become in the last moments. "Me too."

* * *

The light faded away almost as rapidly as it appeared as the young man materialised on the transporter. The arrangements had been made. Batman's ally was now here.

With the light gone, Wonder Woman caught her first glimpse of the man often called Nightwing. She had heard the stories of course, even _seen_ them, but this was the first time she had ever actually been face to face with him. Not all heroes were involved with the Justice League after all, and Nightwing was just about the most prominent of those. Until now. Now that was all about to change, thanks to apparent circumstances that Wonder Woman still dearly hoped and prayed were just paranoia.

Despite him not having any direct relation to Bruce, Wonder Woman's first thought at the sight of Nightwing was of just how similar to Batman he truly was. It was all in the way he held himself, that same confidence nearing on arrogance, that same drive, that same assured calm hiding all sorts of skill and rage underneath. But yet, the more she looked the more she spotted the differences too, traces of humour and humanity in him that would be far more at home in the Flash than in Batman. Perhaps more than that though, as she looked at Nightwing, she saw a man who she knew would be able to help, just as Batman had said he would.

"So you're Wonder Woman, huh?" he said as he looked her up and down the same way that she was doing him. Given their _mutual friend,_ there was no wonder that they shared a curiosity, in spite of the situation. "Yeah, I can see why you might have caught Bruce's eye. The news doesn't do you justice."

"The same could be said for many," Wonder Woman cast the remark aside, meaning what she said. She could tell that Nightwing wasn't being shallow and typically male, but now wasn't exactly the time for her to encourage the subtleties of conversation. Introductions, though, weren't too irrelevant to ignore, especially considering what this young man meant to Bruce. "But yes, I am. Though please call me Diana. That is my actual name, after all."

"Nice to finally meet you, _Diana_ ," Nightwing greeted, making a point to say her name as requested. He had stepped down from the teleporter pad by then, moving forward to stand right at Wonder Woman's side. "I'm sure you're smart enough to have figured out who I am beneath the mask, even if Batman hasn't told you. I'd appreciate it if we didn't say it though, not until we get a handle on what's going on up here. Because of that, I hope you also don't mind if I skip to the point. I'm sure there'll be plenty of chance for us to chat before we're done, or even later the way things are going between you two, but for now would you mind just telling me what was so urgent that Batman practically ordered me up here? What's going on with you guys? What happened to the League?"

"That's why he called you," Wonder Woman answered, accepting Nightwing's decision to speed things along. He was right, after all. As she and Bruce continued to grow closer, she had every intention of getting to know Dick Grayson and the rest of the "Bat Clan" better. This was just not the moment for that to happen. "We need your help to figure it out."

"Okay… You're going to have to go from the top on this one, I think," Nightwing commented, sounding confused and rubbing at the back of his head, causing the ponytail he wore to bob up and down. Wonder Woman complied with his request. It might help her come more to terms with what was going on herself. It might help her to spot some way that Batman was wrong, to find some shred of evidence that the League wasn't compromised after all. She hoped, at least.

She started from the moment when she, Batman, Green Lantern and Shayera had returned to the Watchtower after their mission in Macau. She told him about the training robots going haywire and attacking, seriously harming Wildcat and potentially Canary too. She told him about the fightback and what Batman had discovered in the Watchtower mainframes. She told him all about Batman's belief that someone on the Watchtower was responsible for the chaos on the League's home base. And then, finally, she told him all about the video message that the Joker had left buried in the code of those reprogrammed robots, the warning of the torment that was to come. It was safe to say that Nightwing's reaction to that piece of news was hardly unexpected.

" _Joker_ … That explains a lot. I assume you know just how cranky even the merest glimpse of a clown can make our Batman?"

"Yes, I do," Diana nodded. She still remembered vividly just how still Bruce had become as soon as the Joker's malevolent face had appeared on the screen in the training room, and how much more angry and determined it had visibly made him. "I was there when he saw the message about what's happening. And while they may not still reside in my mind, I did once share his memories. I have seen all the terror that the Joker has wrought in the past. Batman has every reason to react as he does when that man is around."

" _Shared his memories_?" Nightwing voiced some momentary confusion. "Was that during the whole 'mind sucked into a cloud-like energy being' incident? _That_ can't have been pleasant… Anyway, where was I? Yeah, you're right. The Joker's the worst bit of scum to ever hit Gotham, maybe even the whole planet. He's totally, utterly insane. Homicidal too. The deadliest man I've ever known, and I've fought metas too. Putting it simply, I can see why Batman called me in to help. But if we're up here and not going to Gotham with him, I assume we're believing that the Joker can blow up the entire city if we don't leave it to Batman? So what are we doing? Going after the guy who planted that chip in your mainframe and turned those robots wacko?"

"Yes," Wonder Woman answered again. "Batman said that if anyone would be able to uncover the truth about who that was, it would be you. Until we find out how the Joker accessed the Watchtower, the entire station has been locked down. You and I are the only ones who can move freely, since we're the only two Batman trusts to do this, being as he knows neither of us are responsible. All League personnel have been confined to various sections of the Watchtower until we are done here, even Superman, Flash, GL and Shayera, no matter how ridiculous the notion is that they're behind this."

"Batman sure isn't really the trusting sort," Nightwing muttered, alluding to some of the trouble that Wonder Woman knew there was in his past with Bruce. He didn't expand on it though. Instead, he was soon getting back down to business. "You say you had one of these robots that attacked plugged in to the system. Is it still all hooked up?"

"Yes, I left it where it was when I came to teleport you up here," Wonder Woman confirmed. "It and all the other ones are still down in the training area. Come on, I'll show you the way."

"No need," Nightwing was quick to cut her off before she began to march away. "If I'm right, that's the central computer just over there where this whole station is run from. If your robot's still hooked up, I can get to it from there, and a whole lot of other useful stuff too. Everything I could possibly need all in one place. Right here, if I know Batman."

"You can do that?" Wonder Woman said, sounding impressed. She wasn't exactly stupid herself and she knew her way around the systems, but her powers with them were limited. Since arriving in Man's World, computer complexity had hardly been her focus.

"Sure," Dick answered, making it sound like it was nothing. "Of course, this sort of thing is more up Batgirl's alley than mine but I ought to be able to do it alright. It'll be a whole lot easier, too, since I have someone with full, top level Justice League access codes with me to save on a whole heap of hacking."

"Just tell me when and where you need access and I'll give it to you," Wonder Woman responded, trusting the young man to do the right thing. That was enough to bring a grin to Nightwing's face. The next moment, Wonder Woman held out her hand to him. The central hub of the Watchtower wasn't the most grapple friendly zone, after all, and that computer was a level above them. "Shall we?"

Nightwing took a second to cotton on and then immediately took her hand. Still, he almost leapt from his skin when Wonder Woman began to hover into the air. This was a man who hadn't the first-hand experience of people who could fly, never mind one of them flying _him_ upwards, no matter how short a distance. It had been so long since Wonder Woman had noticed that from anyone who wasn't a civilian in peril, long enough that she had forgotten how new such an experience might be to most people. When she set Nightwing down in front of the console barely a second later, it was her turn to grin.

"Right then…" Nightwing mumbled, looking surprisingly glad to have two feet firmly planted for someone who had grown up a trapeze artist and then spend his life scrambling around rooftops. "Let's get cracking shall we? And since Batman went through all the trouble of arranging this little lockdown, perhaps we ought to keep an eye on your friends too, just in case one of them isn't as trustworthy as we'd like to believe."

With that, Nightwing got straight into the midst of things. He starting getting to work on the computer, working his way through it with Wonder Woman opening up the paths for him whenever he needed it. He went through a lot, doing so methodically, thoroughly and yet quickly. Wonder Woman watched on, trying to keep tabs on what it was Nightwing was doing and what he was looking for, though she found that hard to do. She wasn't the World's Greatest Detective or his protégé. There was a reason why Batman had summoned Nightwing for this, after all.

Instead, she found her eyes often getting drawn to a single one of the many screens around the control hub, the one where Nightwing had put up the security feeds. It was split screen between the group in the commissary, infirmary and those in the infirmary. A look around both told Wonder Woman that all the Justice League were still were they were meant to be, with the lack of any sort of alarm confirming that the civilian personnel were still all obeying the lock down too. However, Wonder Woman wasn't really looking for security purposes. She was looking to check on her friends. She was looking to see how Superman, Shayera, GL, Flash and the others were reacting to things. It was safe to say a variety of emotions were being displayed in relation to the lockdown. Superman certainly looked the calming influence in relation to the hotter heads of people like Green Arrow, clearly shook up by the injury to Black Canary. Wonder Woman was relieved to see Superman keeping the group understanding and accepting of the situation. The entire Justice League needed to keep cool heads until whatever had compromised them was dealt with, otherwise that task would get a whole lot more complex.

"So tell me, how's Batman been these last few weeks? Bludhaven's been keeping me busy, but I've been wondering how he's coping."

Nightwing's words snapped Wonder Woman's eyes back away from the screen. She had not expected him to say anything while he was working, especially if it wasn't to reveal he had found something. She quickly looked across to him, noticing that he was still busy working away on some piece of code or another. And yet he was attempting to strike up conversation with her while he was working, _friendly_ conversation. That certainly wasn't a trait that he had picked up from Bruce.

"I'm sorry, I don't understand," Wonder Woman truthfully answered. "Coping with what?"

Nightwing let out a snort of laughter as if she had just said something amusing, though he still kept his focus on his work. "With being happy, of course. I've never seen him as happy as he's been since he let you in. Not once. He's never let himself have that, always worried it would damage his work or would just bring about more pain in the long run. Alfred's tried to convince him otherwise for years, so have I. But then you come along and, even if it took a while, he finally started to listen. And I have to say, I'm liking what I'm seeing. It's good to see him in a mood were he actually _likes_ having people around him. And all that's down to you. But like I say, I've only see him in snippets lately. Certainly not as much as you've been seeing him. So how's he coping with being actually being a happy Batman?"

 _A happy Batman_. Now that was an image that was certainly amusing. Wonder Woman had to fight off the laugh as an image of a wildly grinning Batman fighting the scum of Gotham formed in her mind. She wasn't overly successful at keeping it at bay, though. Not until a moment later when the picture of that grin reminded her of another she had seen lately, on a pasty, red lipped face.

"In the suit he's still the same man he's ever been, so I'd say he's _coping_ as well as he could have hoped for," Wonder Woman answered as her face became more serious again. "As for out of the cowl, all I can say there is that you would certainly be proud of him for how far he has been willing to step out of his dark solitude. But I'm afraid I cannot say more than that to you. He has warned me already that such things are for me alone to see, and he's bound to have some way of finding out every word we say here."

For a brief second, what Diana had said caused Nightwing to break away from his work to look at her, clearly having found what she said amusing. "It's alright, Wonder Woman. I'd protect you."

Diana raised her eyebrows at him as if he just said something surprisingly foolish. At the same time, she raised one of her fists, showing off the silver bracelet worn there. "Who said it was me who would need protecting?"

Nightwing did let out another snort of laughter this time. It made Wonder Woman smile slightly too. She may have only known him for a matter of minutes now, but based on that bit of back and forth she could already see why Bruce respected and cared so much for the young man. He was a shining example of his kind. He was also a shining example of Bruce's skill as a mentor and father figure. Wonder Woman was about to voice something to that affect when Nightwing suddenly burst out in excitement, cutting her off before she had begun.

"Woah, hang on a minute, I think I might have got something!"

"What is it? What have you seen?" Wonder Woman was quickly asking. There was suddenly a nervous edge to her voice, an obvious apprehension. She had her faith that none of her friends were a traitor, despite Batman's fears. This could well be the moment when they found out how well placed that faith was.

"It's not the answer yet, but unless you folks hand out your passcodes like sweets at Halloween, I'd say it confirms that Batman was right to order all members of the Justice League to be locked down," Nightwing answered her, thoroughly embedded in his work again as he pursued whatever it was that he had found. "It's been buried well, but not well enough. The robots weren't hacked. I've just gone through the maintenance log of the one you still have hooked up. There's a record there from the last few days. Someone tried to delete it, but they didn't manage it completely. I can still see that it existed, that it still exists. It's just going to take me time to rebuild it. But there's no doubt. This sort of record, it doesn't get created if you're good enough to hack into the code without needing access permissions. Access only League personnel have."

"How long will it take until you can get a name?" It took Wonder Woman a moment to find her voice enough to say that, but she made it as short a moment as possible. In recent years she had managed to rein in her temper, to get her anger more under control. Now, now that she was hearing that her faith in all members of the Justice League may well be misplaced on at least one count, that control was broken.

"As long as it takes, depends how good our target is. But I'll… No! No, no, no, this is _not_ happening. This is _not happening_!"

"What is it? What's wrong?" Wonder Woman's tone matched Nightwing's sudden urgency. He had broken off in the middle of his explanation in a way that did _not_ sound good.

"There's a deletion programme been added to the subroutines!" Nightwing blurted out. His fingers were more of a blur over the keyboard than they had been before as he desperately fought what was happening before his eyes. To Diana, it was just a wall of binary on the screen, but the tension in Nightwing's voice made the situation clear. It was bad. "Attempting to rebuild the record must have triggered it. Our inside man is even better than I thought! I'm trying to stop it but I don't know if I… Oh no."

Wonder Woman didn't have to ask what had gone wrong this time. She could see plenty of it for herself, and could figure out the rest from there. Whatever programme there was doing the damage to Nightwing's doing was apparently infectious, _viral_. And it had just done gotten into the Watchtower's command systems.

Nightwing's computer was the first thing to go. For a brief moment everything on the screens turned a vivid blue. The next second, not even that remained as the whole bank went down. Not only that, but all the lighting in the room was soon following suit. The pair of them had been cast into darkness, metaphorically as well as in actuality. With the computers gone, there was no way for Nightwing to stop the deletion of the robots records. Whoever was responsible had covered their tracks _very_ well.

But it turned out that that was the least of their problems. After just a few moments in pitch blackness, the alarms began to sound. Only it wasn't the same alarm as before. Wonder Woman instantly recognised the signal, again from all the training drills that Bruce had put all League personnel through when the second Watchtower had come online. It wasn't the intruder alert either; all personnel were still in position.

No. This alarm was the signal for a toxic attack.

After just one wail of the klaxons, faint lightning came up as the backup systems kicked in, thankfully unaffected by whatever Nightwing had accidentally triggered. Soon the computer systems were kicking back in too, but it wasn't the full reboot that they desired. They didn't have control back. For the computers, it wasn't a back-up or a system reboot. It was still a part of the problem.

"What the…?" Nightwing muttered as he watched it unfold, sounding utterly confused. Worried too. That wasn't surprising. Wonder Woman was feeling it herself. Slowly but surely, a map of the Watchtower had come on the screens, on all of the screens. What it was doing there, Wonder Woman had no idea. She also wasn't feeling patient enough to find out, not with that alarm blaring. However, it turned out she didn't have to wait.

As both of them stared at the screens, that face had appeared, that demonic clown's face, laughing, complete with the sound. Only this time it wasn't a recording, it was merely a graphic. A graphic which was soon zooming down to place itself in a room roughly beside were Wonder Woman knew the Watchtower's power core to be, deep within the structure.

"Now what do you suppose _that's_ all about?" Nightwing again voiced his confusion. It was again understandable. He wouldn't know the layout of the station or what that alarm meant. But Wonder Woman did. That meant that she knew exactly what was happening.

"The Joker has some form of gas he uses, correct?"

"Yeah, Smilex," Nightwing answered her question, which was enough to make comprehension dawn on him. "Is _that_ what this is? The Joker's got _Smilex_ aboard the Justice League's space station?"

"Keep doing what you can from here," Wonder Woman said, her non-answer an answer in itself. She was taking command. The scenario they had suddenly found themselves in needed someone to and, being modest, she was as good as any. After all, it wasn't only the two of them they had to protect, but all those they had locked in up here too. "Try and get the systems back on line. The Watchtower's automatic defences should have sealed off the area as soon as the release of gas was detected and no one should have been in that area. But under the circumstances, someone needs to go check this out."

"Go," Nightwing simply said in agreement. "I'll let you know if I get anywhere."

"And I'll do the same. Good luck."

And then she was gone. There was no time to wait around for any more pleasantries, not when they were suddenly facing life or death. Nightwing had already turned back to the console, trying to get the thing through whatever the Joker and his… _ally_ had done to the systems. As for Wonder Woman, she flew.

She flew hard, and she flew fast. In fact, she even flew straight through the decks. The power core was several levels down, and she had no time to use the lifts. In only seconds she was in the corridor outside the room where that odd graphic on the screen had placed the Joker's face. Down here the lighting was still out, though the alarms remained, giving the place an eerie glow as they flashed in red.

Relief hit Wonder Woman when she noticed the seals in place on the door to what was a storage bay for maintenance gear, an easy place to hide a canister of toxin. Air tight seals. Through the glass in that door, she could see all the other safeguards had come online too, the air vents shutting themselves up to keep what had been loosed in there where it could do no harm. In fact, Wonder Woman could see the green gases circling around in the air inside that room, looking like they had nowhere else to go.

"Nightwing, it's Diana," she said into her comm after taking a brief moment to catch her breath, hoping that the control rooms' communications weren't down like everything else up there now seemed to be. "I'm at the site. The gas… is… con…tain…"

But she trailed off before she could deliver the good news. She ought to have known that this had been too easy. As she had spoken, her eyes had turned away from that sealed bay. She hadn't really taken in the rest of the scene when she had arrived, so focused had she been on a danger she knew had existed elsewhere. Now something else amongst her surroundings had caught her eye, but only in the moments when the alarm lights weren't flashing illumination.

It was an arrow, an arrow pointing her towards the nearby power core chamber, an arrow she was clearly meant to follow. And it had clearly been meant for exactly this moment too, seeing as it was apparently painted on in a glow-in-the-dark green. The toxin _had_ been too easy. Wonder Woman could guess that it had been put there simply to bring someone here, to this place, at this time. This was all planned, deliberate. Cautiously, aware that this could be a new danger, Wonder Woman saw no choice but to follow that arrow. Either this was a trap, or far away the Joker was taunting them. Wonder Woman had to know which, for everybody's sakes.

"Wonder Woman, what's going on down there?" Nightwing's voice sounded in her earpiece as she moved into the vast room that housed the Watchtower's power plant. Other than the darkness and the alarms, an initial scan of the area told Wonder Woman that everything in there was exactly as it should have been. That was, except for another glow in the dark arrow, directing her to one of the walls.

No. It was directing her _inside_ the wall.

She paused before answering Nightwing, quickly flying across the gap to that arrow. She remembered the trick that had been set with the droid's programming, how pursuing one threat had unleashed another, but she saw no choice but to pursue this one too. The consequences would have to be faced, but that was better than doing nothing and risking everything.

With one powerful fist Wonder Woman dug her hand into the wall at the tip of the downwards pointing arrow. Then, with one swift tug she had the bulkhead pulled clear out of place. What she saw behind it made her eyes grow wide in terror.

"Nightwing, the gas was just to lure one of us down here, in order to find out what's really happening," she finally replied to Batman's eldest protégé, keeping her voice calm as her brain instantly raced at what she was seeing. "The Joker wanted us to find what he had really done. He must have wanted us to know, wanted us to fear what he might do next."

"Why, what is it? Diana, what've you found?"

"It's a bomb." Wonder Woman put it bluntly as she stared at the device before her eyes. In her time in Man's World working with the League, Wonder Woman had seen enough of these to recognise the intense danger of this one. She could guess at the explosive power of it, could figure the amount of damage it would do. And that damage would all be exacerbated by the fact that the power core was well within its reach, so a chain reaction and a far bigger blast would follow its own. To make matters even worse, Wonder Woman then noticed the display on it, front and centre, glowing menacingly out at her. They were most definitely in _big_ trouble. "A bomb that will destroy the entire Watchtower if it goes off.

"And it's already counting down."

* * *

 _ **A/N:**_

 _ **First off, sorry for the delay all, but truth be told, if it weren't for excitement for a certain film just over a week away now this delay would probably have been a little longer. Well, the film and the fact so many reviews flooded in the last few days that I felt I owed you this a little sooner than it originally looked like coming...**_

 _ **Anywho, as we all sit here anxiously counting down to the big day next week, I hope you let me know what you think of what I'm doing! Simply put, keep sending them reviews in, guys and gals! Loving them all! Can something bonkers happen and we break through the 100 barrier with them before even hitting Chapter 8?!**_


	9. Chapter 8: A Shot in the Dark

**Chapter 8: A Shot in the Dark**

 ** _Thirty Minutes Ago_**

It was late enough in the year to mean the sun went down relatively early in the day, but it was still very late by the time they had sat down to dinner. Still, Hamilton Hill had gotten used to it being dark outside before he was home and settling down for the night like this.

"Something wrong with your food, Jordan?" Hamilton asked as he looked up from his own plate. It was something the maid had put together for them, of course. While it was hardly Michelin star standard, it was edible enough. And it saved him from having another job to do around here.

Even after his time in office was over, Hamilton Hill kept himself busy. He had presided over Gotham City from the big chair for years. He had made mistakes in that time, but he had always done the best that he possibly could. Besides, what man could do better in _Gotham_? The place ought to have been one of the greatest cities on the entire planet. Instead, it had become a breeding ground of madness, chaos and death. The sort of freaks Gotham drew in to it, no man could lead it into the light. Not without serious help.

But the people of Gotham hadn't seen it that way. After many years of service and so much of his blood, sweat and tears, they had seen fit to oust him from the office that he had worked his whole life to earn. They had thought that it was time for a change, that maybe someone else could do a better job than he had in presiding over the efforts to clean up Gotham. They were wrong of course, but they lived in a democracy and Hamilton had to accept that decision.

For now at least. There would always be another election. The office may have been taken from Hamilton Hill, but he hadn't given up on it. However long it would take, he would win it back.

It was for exactly that reason that he was so busy these days. Campaigning was a busy job. It didn't matter that the election was still years away. He had to stay in the public eye. He couldn't afford to let people forget the name Hamilton Hill, otherwise there may be no way back for him. Of course, all of that meant that he was rather reliant on his staff for the things that needed doing at home, such as preparing the food. Unfortunately, it also included most of the work looking after his son.

"It's starting to get like the old days again, Dad," Jordan, Hamilton's son, complained from the opposite side of the long dinner table. He dropped his fork as he said it, causing it to crash onto the plate. The boy certainly looked upset. "You care more about the job than you do me, and it's not even your job anymore!"

Jordan's napkin was soon following his fork as he pulled it free and threw it down on the plate too. Just that one sentence had been enough for him. Some parents may have called his actions a tantrum, but Hamilton knew that they had reason behind them. He and Jordan had once been very distant, but then, when the boy had needed rescuing having been abducted by that madman the Joker, the two had gotten closer again. Now they had started to forget the lessons that had been learned on that dark day. Suddenly Hamilton could see that again.

"Jordan!" he called out his son's name, practically as a plea. It was too late however. Jordan had already stood up and stormed out of the room. Hamilton let him go. He had handled enough diplomacy in his time to know when he needed to chase straight away and when the situation called for someone to be left alone to vent. Right now was a case of the latter.

Still, Hamilton sighed as he stood from the table himself, his appetite suddenly vanished. He would have to do something about this. He wanted his office back but he didn't want it to cost him his son in the process. It would take some planning and, from how this meal had gone, he would have to start immediately. Slowly Hamilton walked over towards the window. In the darkness of night there wasn't a whole lot to see from his house, not counting the plethora of lights from the rest of the city, but perhaps staring out into that sort of void would help him to think.

That had been his plan anyway. There was no way for him to know that in actuality it was the worst decision of his life.

For several minutes Hamilton stood there, staring out into the darkness. In fact, he stood there for so long that he was soon hearing the grandfather clock in the other room begin to chime the half hour. The fact that it was that time already startled him, causing him to look down at his watch. If it hadn't been for that, he would never have spotted the faint red dot that was being shined right in the centre of his chest from somewhere beyond the glass in front of him.

It didn't matter that it took Hamilton a second or two to realise what the dot was. His eyes had barely widened in horror when the sound of glass being pierced by a fast moving object went out. An immeasurably small amount of time after that, a very intense pain suddenly struck him, right where the red dot had been. Immediately Hamilton felt his body begin to fall, but he never got to feel it hit the floor.

In fact, he knew he would never get to feel anything else ever again.

* * *

 ** _Now_**

A lone squad car was all that managed to beat him to the scene. That much was understandable of course. Someone would have been sent to respond straight away, before Detective Montoya could have heard about it and definitely before she could tell Gordon and let Batman learn of it too. Still, the two officers who had arrived at the house had done nothing but seal off the crime scene and get the boy and the house staff away from the body. That meant that Batman was free to get to work.

Barbara had had no trouble in tracking down the location of the shooting. A quick hack or two had told her everything that she needed to know, and in turn she had told him. Batman had immediately set off to get here, using the Batmobile to draw close before grappling up to neighbouring rooftops to scout out the area. However, he didn't have to do any of that to figure out who had been killed. He got that much simply from the address.

Former Mayor Hamilton Hill had moved out from his manor house now and into the heart of the city a year ago. Some people claimed that it was in an attempt to get himself surrounded by others as a form of protection should Temple Fugate ever come after him again. The more realistic answer was that it had been an attempt to show he was metaphorically more in touch with the people of Gotham by actually being closer to them, a failed effort to revive what had then been a floundering re-election campaign. Of course, the fact that he had moved into a luxury two-storey penthouse in one of Gotham's tallest towers hadn't helped his image much. It hadn't helped to keep him safe either.

After a quick scout of the area, Batman grappled across the crevice between towers that stretched high into the sky, landing on the gothic architecture of Hill's building. His apartment hadn't been right at the top but it was still high up. Still, Batman had no qualms crawling around on the ledges. He had been playing this game too long for that. While there, he began checking the windows around him on the higher of the apartment's floors. It didn't take him too long to find one that was unlocked. Then it was a simple matter of opening it up, before acrobatically slipping inside.

He'd emerged into a bedroom, the master from the looks of things. More importantly though, the room was empty. Right now he couldn't be doing with encountering the two policeman who were already on the scene, those who had been here when Hill was killed even less so. He knew that Jordan, Hill's son, was bound to be here. No doubt Hill had plenty of staff to do all his work for him, and they'd have been here too. Jordan especially would need comforting. Batman knew all too well the effect losing a parent could have on such a young boy. But right now that was a job better suited to others. Right now Batman had to focus on the mission, on doing whatever it took to find the Joker, before someone else lost their family too.

He stepped out from the room without making a sound. When he emerged into an ornately decorated landing that wasn't too dissimilar to Wayne Manor, he heard the sounds of crying coming from one of the other rooms up there on the second level. It was definitely Jordan doing so, sounding like he couldn't actually believe what had happened. There were other voices coming from the same room, both those of the staff and the police. That meant the rest of the coast ought to be clear too.

From his initial scouting Batman had spotted that the body lay on the lower of the two floors. Swiftly he began to head towards the stairs and down towards Hill's corpse. He was still careful all the way not to make a noise and alert the others that he was in the building, utilising the kind of light-footedness that would enable him to cross an iced-over river if he had to. Still, he travelled quickly. He was in the room in question in no time, silently shutting the big wooden door behind him when he was. It was the dining room that he emerged into, with food still all set out on the table, showing that the scene was still completely untouched and untampered with. Regardless, it was definitely the body that drew Batman's eye the most.

Hamilton Hill had hardly been one of Batman's closest allies. The pair had been known to clash before. In fact, more than once Hill had tried to bring Batman down, not liking the fact that a vigilante was loose in the city. Often he had tried to use Harvey Bullock and the GCPD to achieve that end. Of course, Hill's efforts had always failed, though eventually he had come to respect Batman and everything that he stood for. More than that, deep down Batman knew that Hamilton Hill had been a good man. It was because of that that Batman felt true sorrow as he looked down at the blood stained body that lay at his feet.

A surprised expression was etched on Hill's face, the rigor setting in already to lock it that way. Hill clearly hadn't seen his demise coming until it was too late. The murder weapon, as it so often was, was a gun. A sniper rifle from the looks of things. Just a quick glance was enough to tell Batman that the bullet had come from outside the building while Hill had stood by the window. In fact, the bullet had travelled so fast that it hadn't even shattered the glass in the window any more than it needed to create its own path through, going to penetrate right through Hill's heart. Hill's body had toppled backwards after that, landing face up and showing off the blood that had been pumped out across his chest. It was the kind of wound that would have seen Hill dead almost instantly.

All of which meant there was nothing to be done for Hill, which in turn meant that the body was no longer Batman's most urgent point of call.

The small chunk of metal had been fired fast enough to pass clean through Hill's torso, winding up lodged in a cabinet that stood on the wall behind him at the other end of the room. Swiftly Batman moved over to it. Despite spotting it, he left the actual bullet where it was. It was possible that there was useful forensics on it, but he was hoping that he wouldn't have to go through the slower process of pursuing that kind of lead. After all, he knew exactly who was ultimately responsible for this.

The fact that most of the glass in the window had remained intact was a blessing. It meant that Batman could track with the precision that he needed. With where the bullet had entered the room and where it had wound up, it gave him the incoming angle of trajectory. In turn, that meant that Batman was able to identify exactly where the shooter had stood when the bullet was fired.

It came from one of the neighbouring towers, not the nearest since even its top level didn't reach the floor of this apartment was on, but the roof of the one after that. A rooftop that Batman had already scouted on his way in here, too. The shooter had clearly not stuck around after pulling the trigger. That was unfortunate. He didn't care if it meant that searching the rest of this place ought to be safer. Catching the shooter would definitely have been Batman's best chance of tracking the Joker down. In fact, there was every possibility that catching the shooter may have been his only chance of knowing where to go next, before the Joker's goons struck again.

But Batman couldn't give up yet, just because of that. There were still plenty more avenues for him to check out. He had until the next victim fell to pursue this crime scene. With the Joker, that might mean he had seconds, or he might have hours. The clown was hardly the type to be consistent and all to plan. He was all about the heat of the moment and whatever took his fancy. Batman could only hope that right now that didn't involve the death of anyone else.

Batman quickly began to study the rest of room, looking for anything and everything that might help. He was looking for some sort of clue, any sort of clue that might tell him precisely why Hamilton Hill had been chosen as the Joker's first target. Joker's recording left in that robot on the Watchtower had only said that he was going to kill people. It had made no mention of who. It had also claimed that this was all an effort by the Joker to harm Batman, but he knew that the Joker didn't need any excuse to go for the kill. He could well be going for two birds with one stone, going after people who he wanted dead any way. Finding out precisely why Joker wanted Hill dead could well direct Batman to who else might be a target.

The problem was that Batman could spot nothing in this room and, with his history as the Mayor of the city, could think of too many possible explanations to identify the one that he needed to find. As far as he could see, the whole thing could still have been just completely random. He was about to write this room off for anything non-forensic and move to examine the rest of the apartment when the signal went off, halting him in his tracks.

"What is it, Batgirl?" he growled into the communicator built into the cowl in response to her incoming message, wasting no time. He didn't allow himself to feel anything until he had heard what she had to tell him. After all, there was equal possibility that this could be good news as well as bad. There was every chance that she was calling to tell him that she had found something, that she had tracked the Joker down through some of her investigations back in the Batcave. However, there was also every chance that she might have been calling him to tell him that someone else in the city had just been killed.

"Hello to you too," Barbara's voice came back to him through the device. Her voice was fairly even for that initial quip, giving nothing away. "Batman, the computer's picking up something from the Justice League satellite, the Watchtower as you call it. I thought that you'd want to be told."

"Told _what_?" Batman demanded when Barbara never really finished. He filled his voice with enough force to ensure that she did so this time. If something was happening on the Watchtower, he had to know about it. For more reasons than one, for more than just the mission. There was so much of importance up there, too much of importance for anything to go wrong. And the way Barbara was talking, he was getting the impression that things way well have just gone very wrong.

"I don't know how to tell you this so I'll just come straight out with it," Barbara returned, which was hardly an encouraging start. "That system hook-up between the Batcomputer and the satellite you no doubt thought I didn't know about, it's picking up a toxin alert. The Watchtower's under attack, and all things considered, we have to assume it's the Joker."

Beneath the cowl, Batman's face had become even more twisted in rage than normal. Barbara's assumption was right. He knew it was. As soon as she had said the word toxin, he knew it must be the Joker's. The Watchtower was even more compromised than he had thought, or feared. This was seriously bad news.

In that moment, Batman's legendary control was lost to him. There was nothing but the rage, except for the fear. Diana was up there, Dick was up there, hell Kent and the rest were up there too. So many people, and the Joker had just targeted all of them in one fell swoop. All because of him. All of this was to get to him. Diana, Dick, even Clark, they were all in danger tonight because of him.

He had to stop this before it was too late. Nothing else mattered. Nothing else was important anymore.

"Do you have contact established?" Batman practically roared down the line. "Get me a situation report! And get me back up there!"

"And what about Gotham?" An extra voice came onto the line; Alfred's voice. "Sir, I know the irony of me saying this, but you can't abandon Gotham now, no matter how much this means to you. The Joker's message was clear, Sir. Only you can save Gotham, and all its millions. Bruce, I must profess upon you the need to remember the time you spend learning to master your emotions on matters such as these. Her highness and Master Dick are both more than capable. We must have faith that they can save themselves, so that you can save us all."

"I said get me up there!" Batman snarled, having to fully force himself to keep his voice down so as not to be overheard. "It's not Gotham tha–!"

"Woah, hang on! I've just lost all connection!" Barbara suddenly blurted out, cutting Batman off midstream. "Every single link I have to the computers up there, they've all just gone! I've got nothing!"

"Check the sa–!"

"I just did," Barbara interrupted again, as if she had read his mind. "All other satellites in the area show that the Watchtower's still up there, we've just completely lost the connection. And whatever it is, it seems to have knocked out the comm lines too. I couldn't patch you through even if I wanted to."

Suddenly it felt like time to unleash some expletives, but Batman held back. Like it or not, what Barbara had just told him completely tied his hands. Like it or not, he now had no choice but to do as Alfred suggested. He knew that he would be able to find _some_ way to get back up there, even if he couldn't access the Watchtower to do so by teleport. He was _incredibly_ resourceful after all. But that would take time, and time was not an available luxury. By the time he could get there, either Diana, Dick and the rest would have saved themselves, or it would simply be too late.

And so Alfred was right. He had to have faith. He had to trust that those he cared about could protect themselves, while he protected his city. A notion which made him want to swear again. This was not going to be something that he would be able to easily cast out of his mind, and if he were to save Gotham he would need to be able to concentrate. Damn this.

He had to catch the Joker. He had to find him. He had to stop the clown _now_.

"You try and re-establish the connection," Batman commanded with a growl after a drawn out pause. He put plenty of force behind every word, so as to ensure that not even Barbara and Alfred could argue with him. They had already won the war anyway. The fact that he hadn't countered Barbara straight away again would have told them that much, without any doubt. "And you _tell_ me as soon as you hear anything."

"I will," Barbara replied, sounding incredibly sincere. "And I'll keep looking for the Joker. We'll get him, Bruce. Dick'll be fine, and so will Diana. You'll see."

"Indeed you shall, Sir," Alfred added. "After all, her Highness managed to defeat all of your efforts to keep her at bay for so very long. And if she can do that, then there's nothing that she can't overcome."

For a moment, Batman's head dropped. There was a reason why he'd kept Alfred around for all of these years. There was a reason why Alfred meant more to him in the world than practically anybody. The man just always seemed to know the right thing to say, even if Batman couldn't realise it at the time. But this time, he could realise it. He could realise that there was a reason why he had been able to train himself to trust in Wonder Woman's abilities, despite his own inherent paranoia.

He _had_ faith. He had faith in Nightwing. He had faith in her.

And he had gratitude, gratitude to Alfred for making him remember that. But he didn't have to say anything more. Alfred would realise that much too. Instead he just clicked off the communicator. That, too, was a message. It was a message that he was getting back to work.

It was just in time too. Barely had he switched off the communications channel than he heard the sounds coming from outside. Someone else was here. They had just entered the apartment, with the two patrolmen having met them at the door. Soon Batman was picking up their voices, immediately recognising the tones of Jim Gordon, Harvey Bullock and Renee Montoya. And they were asking to be shown the body. Normally that would be Batman's signal to move to the shadows, to get himself to a dark corner of the room and to secrecy. But this was not a normal situation. Instead, he remained stood in the light facing the doorway, right at the forefront for all to see. There was only one thing that he had to do. He had to hide all of his anger and his fear and his guilt. Gordon had to see him as a man in control, a man who could save them all. Gordon had to look at him as the chance to save Gotham. It was vital. More than most, it was vital that Jim Gordon did not lose hope.

In no time the handle to the door was being pulled. It was immediately pushed ajar, framing the silhouette of Jim Gordon behind it, awash in the extra light of the entrance hall. Behind his glasses Jim's eyes widened immediately as he recognised that, as he must have expected by now, Batman had beaten him here.

"Bullock, Montoya, you two go and check on the boy and anyone else who was here when it happened," Gordon said without moving away from the doorway. Batman could tell immediately what the Commissioner, his longest ally in the field, was doing. Harvey Bullock had made his feelings on the situation clear back at the GCPD. Gordon had obviously decided that, because of Bullock's reaction, it would be best to keep the two of them apart as much as he could. That meant that as long as Batman needed to be here, Bullock would be put someplace else.

"He's in there isn't he?" Bullock grumbled from out of sight, cottoning on himself. "Commish, I'll go up to the kid, but mark my words. If it weren't for the Bat, Hill'd still be breathing."

"Just move it, Harv," Montoya interjected, quickly followed by the sounds of shuffling feet and reluctant acceptance from Bullock. While that was going on, Jim sighed, rubbing at his eyes beneath his glasses. The arguments about whether Batman was a help or a menace would have been one he had heard far too often. It would also be a question he wished had never had to arise in the first place. It was the same for Batman himself, since the only reason that question would not exist would be because Gotham never needed him to save it.

"So what have we got?" Gordon asked a moment later, only a trace of the exasperation in his voice, along with plenty of tiredness. This job always had that effect on people. As he spoke, Gordon stepped through the door, pushing it shut behind him and moving away to stand with Batman by Hill's body.

"Sniper shot from the roof of an adjacent building pierced his heart, killing Hill almost instantly," Batman informed him. "The hitman has departed the scene. The bullet is lodged in the cabinet, awaiting forensics."

"Any idea why Hill was targeted? It's not like he's even Mayor anymore…"

"I'm working on that," Batman answered, which was enough to tell Gordon that he didn't _have_ the answer. Gordon sighed again then, turning away. He had been looking down at Hamilton's corpse as it lay on the floor, eerily staring up at them both with lifeless eyes. Gordon had clearly had enough of that, turning to gaze out through the window himself, staring out through that bullet hole left in the glass pane.

"It's really happening then," Gordon commented as he did so. "Bartholomew wasn't the only one. The Joker wasn't just bluffing us about this. He really does have the people of Gotham under the heel of his foot."

"Maybe he does," Batman confessed. "But we have enough strength left to throw him off before we get crushed. We'll get him Jim."

Gordon paused then to turn back to face him, that hope that Batman felt was all important etched on his features. "I know you will, my friend. But it's just a matter of how–"

Gordon didn't finish the sentence. He didn't have the chance to. Batman had spotted it just in time. He spotted it as Gordon turned back around, showing Batman his torso just enough to make it visible. For a small red speck of light had just appeared on Gordon's chest, a red speck that was exactly like the laser target used for sniper rifles, rifles like the one that had killed Hill just minutes ago…

Batman dived. He hit Gordon hard with all his weight, slamming the older man backwards and down. He did so just in time. Barely had Gordon begun to grunt in reflex and surprise than a second bullet pierced the glass. This time the pane did shatter, but this time the target was missed. Because of his action, the only thing hit was his cape and the opposite wall. Batman had just saved Gordon, but that wasn't the end of things. He was thinking ahead even as he had spotted the laser marker. He knew what it being there meant.

The sniper had returned. The sniper who could well be his link to tracking the Joker down and putting a stop to all of this before things got any worse.

Barely had they hit the floor than Batman was rolling back up, scanning the skyline out there with great intensity. The rooftop from which he had identified the shot that had killed Hill had come from was empty. However, Batman had looked up just in time to see a shadow carrying a rifle disappear back from the edge of the rooftop beside it. It may not have been the same shooter, they may have moved to keep themselves undetected, they may have just wanted to try a different angle, but it didn't matter. One of Joker's gunmen was up there, and Batman was going to catch him.

He had his grapple firing before he had even stood up again, quickly being dragged through the air in the direction of the apparently fleeing assassin. Even as was, he could hear Gordon scrambling around trying to react behind him, but explanations and the rest would have to wait. Batman had a killer to catch.

But even as he flew over the precipice between the towers along the closing grapple line, a part of Batman's mind was still elsewhere. A part of his mind was still up on the Watchtower. And wondering whether the people up there were still alive.

And loathe as he may be to admit it, that last part referred to some far more than others.

* * *

 ** _A/N:_**

 ** _So there we have it. I know, I teased you with a bomb and then haven't even touched it in this one. The thing is, if you hadn't realised it already, this story is going down two separate trajectories for a little while until they merge back into one, and that means alternating chapters between Bats and Wondy. Of course, you know what that means? The bomb is coming next. And, you might all have a completely different view when the time comes, Chapter 9 is one of my personal favourites that I have ever done in Fanfiction. So keep an eye out for it in the next week or so once I've done the finishing touches!_**

 ** _As always, please review in the meantime. We've got to 100 already team, and that's ruddy brilliant! Special shout outs go to Bumbinator (don't worry, pace picks up soon) and Soresu who've recently gone through every chapter going, but the rest of you are appreciated just the same. Now let's head for 200...?_**

 _ **Oh, and something else that needs saying in this pos world (I definitely disagree with the critics, by the way, but this isn't the time or place for that). If there are any fans out there, new or old, looking for a place to talk about it and particularly the characters of Batman and Wonder Woman, there's a lovely little forum site just ready and waiting for you all. Same one I've advertised before, but since we've just had the movie I'll do so again. Just google "batmanwonderwoman" and you ought to find it with ease. And don't worry. We're a friendly enough bunch. Slightly bonkers, but friendly all the same!**_

 ** _And finally I was rather obsessed with the new series of Thunderbirds while writing this chapter, so all this talk of Gordon just got Thunderbird 4 stuck in my head. Hopefully it didn't show. That's maybe for later..._** ** _And on that note, Rest In Peace, Sylvia Anderson. I may be over a week late in saying it, but her work defined so much of my childhood and its legacies still mean a huge amount to me, so it has to be said. That lady will be missed, but will through it all will live forever._**


	10. Chapter 9: 00:01

**Chapter 9: 00:01…**

The clock was ticking. They only had minutes. Minutes before that bomb blew, inevitably setting off enough of a chain reaction that would see the entire Watchtower go with it.

"I don't suppose bomb disposal was one of the many tricks that Batman taught you, was it?" Wonder Woman quickly added down the communicator to the still listening Nightwing. If it came down to it, she knew that she could try to disarm the bomb herself. After the Las Vegas incident Batman had ensured that the Justice League had a crash course in that field. Unfortunately, that didn't mean she had the level of expertise in it that Batman clearly had. Particularly considering that the Joker was responsible for the bomb, so there could be all manner of surprises attached. Surprises which almost certainly would mean simply grabbing the thing and flying it out of there was not an option. Especially with more lives than just her own on the line.

"I'm on my way down," Nightwing responded. Wonder Woman's urgency was echoed in his voice. He clearly understood that the situation could well be dire. "How long have we got?"

"Minutes," Wonder Woman answered. "I don't think we were meant to find it yet. But there looks to be all manner of wiring and features on the device. No doubt there's a trick or two built in to it. And Nightwing, it's a big one."

"Great," Nightwing groaned. "Wonder Woman, given that it's the Joker we can't take our chances. I'm good and all but there's no guarantees I can deactivate that thing in time. I know the place is meant to be in lockdown but I highly recommend that you get everyone off the Watchtower. Being near an explosion's never good at the best of times. Being near one in a giant tin can floating around in a breathless vacuum is even worse."

Diana could certainly see where he was coming from with that one. If the flames didn't take them, the lack of oxygen would. But that was only _if_ the bomb went off. And Wonder Woman hadn't given up hope yet.

"I don't suppose you got the transporter fixed yet?" she asked for the sake of it, despite being sure she knew the answer.

"You'll have to do things the old fashioned way, I'm afraid," Nightwing confirmed for her. Already Wonder Woman was picking up sounds of movement in the background, as if he wasn't still stood at the control console, like he had found a way to set his own communicator to work for the Justice League systems. She shouldn't have been surprised. He was already on his way. "And to make matters worse, whatever's fried the computers has done a number on Batman's lockdown of all Justice League communicators. With yours being left out and mine being… _patched_ in, we're the only ones who can chat. I can't even get the doors open yet. I trust you're up for a spot of dashing about? And that you didn't bother ever scrapping those shuttles of yours?"

All of the civilians in crew quarters, those in the infirmary and all of the Justice League confined in the commissary. She got the message. A quick check of her communicator confirmed what Nightwing told her, as her only response from her efforts to reach her allies was a shroud of static. All of those people were still all trapped in their respective locations as part of the lockdown, with no way of being warned of what was coming short of someone charging in and tearing the blast doors down by force. With Nightwing busy heading here, that was a job for Wonder Woman. The was why she was quickly on the move herself, taking off again to make use of the route to practically every level of the Watchtower she had created earlier on her charge down here. She had to make sure that they _all_ got out. She had to save the Justice League. Unfortunately, with that counter ticking, there was no guarantees that she would get to everyone in time, especially if they had to flee using the Javelins.

Only one thing was certain in all of this. The Joker _definitely_ meant business.

Wonder Woman said no more to Nightwing there and then. Nothing more needed to be said. As she surged upwards through the smashed decking of the Watchtower she actually passed him dropping gracefully the other way, heading for the bomb that could spell so much doom. Silently she prayed to the gods that he would be able to defuse it, but she wasn't reliant on that prayer being answered. Instead, she put all of her energy into her flight.

The commissary was her first stop. The civilians in the Watchtower were scattered throughout the many crew quarters on the station. While they were almost certainly those in most need of rescue, even Wonder Woman would need help to get to them all in time. Despite what Bruce had so firmly stated before, there was no option anymore.

She needed Shayera, GL, Superman and the rest at her side on this. Besides, whoever did hack in, whoever reprogrammed the training droids and interfered with the Watchtower computers, whoever it was that had planted the bomb, they wouldn't want to be sticking around when the thing went off either. Good guys and bad, they had wound up all in this together.

Together, in a race against time.

* * *

The blast doors had sealed tight behind them the moment that the last member of the Justice League on the Watchtower had entered the commissary. The last one other than those in the infirmary, of course. The lockdown was in full effect.

There was surprisingly many of them up there for modern times. Numbers had often been lower ever since the Metrotower was constructed planet side. The result of that was many heroes trapped in once place, gossiping about what was going on. Not all of them had been there in the training room, after all. Not all of them knew what was going on when the order went out that they were being locked down. Not all of them knew that the Justice League had been compromised.

There was plenty of gossip trying to figure out what was going on, but Green Lantern and the others were doing nothing to explain. They had made sure that all of the others knew that the lockdown was not to be breached, that it was an unwanted necessity, but more than that they had decided not to say. They didn't want to exacerbate things. They didn't want to turn the lockdown into a witch-hunt. They didn't want to give any members of the Justice League any more reason to turn on each other than they already had. Not until they knew who, or what, they would need to direct that sentiment towards.

And so they would wait it out. They would wait until they heard something.

They would wait until Batman unearthed the spy amongst them.

"I don't suppose you noticed that he kept Diana out of this?" Shayera muttered from beside John. The two of them were stood alone off to one side. Across the way Superman was in deep discussions with a still agitated looking Green Arrow, the non-powered hero still clearly worried about Black Canary, especially with the radio silence. Others were in there too, all split into various groups as they tried to figure out what was going on. However, even without knowing the truth, the likes of Doctor Light, Zatanna, Speedy and Vigilante were clearly too curious about what was happening to take this opportunity to rest and eat, too busy speculating away, some of them too busy worrying away. After all, it wasn't every day that the Watchtower was locked down like this.

"Well I imagine he's been keeping a close enough eye on her lately to know that it wasn't her," Green Lantern pointed out. He could tell that Shayera was already getting twitchy. She was never one to sit idly by while the action was happening elsewhere. On top of that, the lockdown was making things a little _claustrophobic_. "But try not to worry, Shay. They'll get it sorted out in no time."

Shayera looked at him almost like he was acting dumb. "No need to molly coddle me, you. This place is plenty big enough for me. You'd better stop worrying so much if you want to be _keeping a close eye_ on me in the next couple of days. Put that brain of yours on trying to figure things out instead. You _are_ the space cop after all. That's what I want right now. I want to know who's responsible for all this. And then I want to teach them what my… mace… tastes… like…"

She may have only been a few words away from the end of her sentence anyway, but Shayera suddenly struggled to get to its end. For, in that moment, things for the heroes secured in the commissary suddenly got all the more curious. For it was then that everything suddenly went dark.

"Hey, who turned out the lights?" Hawk was the first to call out the question that was suddenly on everyone's mind. That included Green Lantern. This clearly wasn't a part of the lockdown. Batman would not have done this. No, as far as GL could think this would be the spies attempt to sneak away. In no small part, that was why he quickly willed a lot of green onto the situation.

"Alright, everybody hold still!" he called out to the entire room, taking command. Beside him, Shayera had the energy of her mace lighting up, as if to ensure that the rest had an extra reason to pay attention to him. "I'm sure the lights will come back on in no time. This is just a slight technical issue. In the meantime, the lockdown is still in effect."

"I'll try and find out what's happening," Shayera added. "Batman will know. I'll contact him and forward what I hear on to the rest of you. But until I do, I suggest you all do what the marine said. If you know what's good for you."

Shayera's words were enough to kill off the atmosphere in the room. All the hubbub, all the discussions, it was all suddenly gone. There was enough command in her voice to make sure the rest obeyed without question. Granted Shayera's tone was a little harsh, but then considering her own history the idea of someone amongst them betraying them all must have really rankled with her. Everyone in the room was picking up on that too. The silence was eerie but Shayera had gotten the job done. The lockdown was not about to be broken easily now. Still, GL had an extra reason to wish Batman would hurry up.

Green Lantern kept his eyes on the crowd, Superman clearly doing the same from the opposite side of the room. Meanwhile Shayera had slunk deeper into the corner, trying to use the communicator in the knowledge that it was supposed to get directed straight to Batman. The thing was, it didn't sound like she was getting through. However, there was no time to deal with why that was. The sound of pounding against the blast doors saw to that.

It was a good job that they were all the strong, heroic type in there. No one needed to say anything. Everyone was all of a sudden at the ready. There was even less reason why anyone would want to smash the blast doors in than there had been for the lights going out. Things were getting even stranger than they had already been. It was because of that they all felt the need to be set, that they all were suddenly so on guard in the middle of their own sanctum. It was because of that that they were all, GL and Shayera included, suddenly ready to fight whatever was coming through that door. Without any need for guidance, as soon as that door buckled the full force of the Justice League was ready to unleash power, light, heat, radiation, brute force and whatever else they had at their disposal at what was surely the enemy that they had been looking for.

Only it wasn't. None of those attacks were launched. Everyone was caught off guard when the door did finally give way, when they saw who it was smashing their way through.

Wonder Woman. A rather scared and desperate looking Wonder Woman at that.

"Diana?" Superman was the first to call out to her as the entire gathering dropped from their aggressive postures. They were all quickly figuring things out in their heads again, not least of all what had Wonder Woman so worked up. It surely wasn't going to be good… "What is it? What's happening?"

"The Watchtower's more compromised than we thought," Wonder Woman answered, speaking quickly but with her voice remarkably level for someone in such a hurry. "The systems have all been externally shut down, from the communications to the transporter and the central computer. But worst of all, we've got a bomb in the power core. Nightwing's working on it, but we don't have long."

"Nightwing?" Superman questioned again, sounding worried. "What's he doing up here? Where's Batman?"

"Later," Wonder Woman quickly shrugged it off. GL immediately understood that there must be good reason for that and it was a call to be respected. Still, it also made him want to know what was happening all the more. If only he wasn't going to be quite so needed, that was. "There's no guarantees he can disarm it in time, and we believe there's too many booby traps on it to try it any other way. We have to get all the people on the Watchtower free of their chambers now, the old fashioned way. We have to get everyone we can to the Javelins before this whole place goes up."

"So no more lockdown?" Green Arrow stepped in, barely leaving Wonder Woman time to catch a breath. "No more worrying about the spy?"

"We'll deal with that once we've made sure that we're all still alive," Diana responded, displaying great leadership. "We still have people in the Infirmary and the crew quarters who need us to get them out as fast as possible."

"Right," Green Arrow growled. He had clearly heard enough. He was already on his way, dashing out of the room as soon as Diana had cleared him to do so.

"Hey, wait up!" Speedy was quickly calling out before being hot on his ex-partner's heels, several others quickly joining them too, including Vigilante, Shining Knight and the Crimson Avenger. It didn't take a genius to figure out which way they were heading. Arrow would be making sure that the Infirmary was cleared. He was going after Black Canary, just as GL would have gone for Shayera if they were both in those respective positions. The other band were clearly intent on helping their friend save his girl, not to mention those by her side.

"I guess that means it's the civilian personnel in crew quarters for the rest of us then," Wonder Woman commented, picking up on that same thread too. She quickly looked across at those remaining in the commissary. With GL, Shayera and Superman amongst them, they certainly had the power. However, just from what Diana had said and how she was acting, GL knew the true question was whether they had the time. And that was even before Diana stressed that point. "Come on, let's go. We need to hurry. Time's running out!"

With that she turned on her heels and flew back the way she had come, clearly intending for GL and the others to follow her but not looking back. Thankfully it didn't take long for the rest of the Justice League to mobilise. Green Lantern was almost within touching distance of Diana in no time.

All in all it had only been minutes, an hour at the most since they had returned from that mission in Macau, an hour since everything had seemed to be going so well in the day and an hour since everyone was happy. It really brought home to GL how quickly things could change.

He only hoped that the next few minutes wouldn't bring about a change so big that it could be earth shattering. He could only hope that he had misread things, or that Diana was wrong about how desperate things were. He could only hope that they acted in time.

He could only hope that his world – and that of all of the Justice League – wasn't about to very literally explode around his ears…

* * *

Wildcat was still out. He had been moved out to a special, sterilised area of the infirmary, beyond her reach. It was still unclear if he was going to make it. The fact that he had been rushed into emergency surgery with so many doctors and nurses focused on him spoke volumes. Things were looking bleak.

Little did Black Canary know just how bleak things truly were.

She had hardly moved from where she had perched, keeping watch over the surgery and her old mentor. Her entire focus was on that, so desperate was she to hear that he was getting better, that those crazy robots hadn't given such a proud fighter his last fight. So desperate was she to hear that she hadn't stood by earlier and watch a man so dear to her get himself killed.

She was vaguely aware of the Flash still dithering about in the room with her, though she paid him little attention. She didn't even care when she heard him talking about some sort of lockdown, including how the entire medical area had been sealed shut. She hadn't been about to go anywhere anyway. Right there was exactly where she had needed to be. In fact, more than just not moving away, she had been determined not to even blink until the doctors brought her some news.

Or at least, that had been her plan until the moment when the blast doors locking down the area were suddenly blown away. That loud bang had finally been enough to draw her eyes away from the surgery area. If nothing else, she had to know what was going on. It was hardly normal for part of the Watchtower to be blasted apart like this. Black Canary had had to make sure that, whatever it was, this was not some other malfunction, or some bad guy coming to finish Wildcat off.

But this hadn't been a bad guy arriving before her. It had been Ollie. Green Arrow had barged in in spite of the apparent lockdown. He hadn't been alone either. There had been several others at his side. His old sidekick Speedy, Stargirl, STRIPE, Vigilante, Shining Knight and the Crimson Avenger had all been there too. The Seven Soldiers, as they had been dubbed after that incident with General Eiling. And they had all stormed in looking pretty desperate.

Typically the Flash had leapt straight in, wanting to know what was going on. When Green Arrow broke his eyes away from a still intact Dinah to answer, Flash probably was wishing that he hadn't bothered asking.

A bomb. A bomb in the Watchtower. A bomb which may well go off, and bring the whole place down. A bomb which had meant that the evacuation order had been given. Despite knowing it was no joke, Black Canary could hardly believe her ears.

"Simply put, we need to get y'all shifted, darlin'," Vigilante was the one to sum it all up.

"We're getting everyone we can to the Javelins," Shining Knight expanded on that. "And the priority has to be the civilian staff, including the medics in this facility."

"Err, one problem there guys," Flash piped up. "Old Wildcat is _badly_ messed up. The docs are in the middle of some pretty major surgery. I'm not too sure they'll be wanting to move him."

"If they don't then they may well lose their patient _and_ more," Speedy contributed. Dinah glared at him, despite the fact he had once been close with her man. No matter what this news was, no matter the situation, she hadn't forgotten the surgery. She hadn't forgotten how much she needed Ted to pull through. "From what we've just heard, this thing is about to blow."

"Then we compromise," Stargirl hurried in, sounding like she actually had something worthwhile to say rather than a roundabout comment like the rest. "I use my staff to carry a platform from here to the Javelins. A floating trolley, a bed of floor panelling carrying both Wildcat's gurney, the medical gear and the medics. The docs won't need to stop at all, but we can live."

"Then get to it," Black Canary quickly ordered. If this had to happen for Ted to survive, then she wanted it to happen now. To hell with the fact she had no authority to give the order. To hell with the fact that she wasn't exactly in the coolest frame of mind. It was an order she simply had to give. Just so long as the next few minutes didn't really send them all to hell. "Get the doctors out of there. Get them off of this station."

"I'll give you a hand," Flash called out straight away before disappearing in a red blur, bolting out towards the surgery area. Dinah watched him disappear into it, actually heard as he began to explain to a band of confused doctors what was going on. Stargirl, STRIPE, Vigilante and Shining Knight were soon on his heels. Ollie, though, turned his full focus to Dinah. He looked like he wanted to step forward and wrap her up in an embrace, but at the same time like he was scared what that might do to her after her own tangle with those malfunctioning droids.

"And you're getting out of here too, pretty bird," he said instead, trying to stand in a commanding, manly pose. He failed. "Someone's going to have to pilot the Javelin getting them clear. May as well be you."

" _Run away_?" The words burst from her before she knew it. Her mad was well and truly up just at those few words Green Arrow had uttered. "You expect me to be on the first ship out of here while the rest of you stay behind risking your necks for all the other civilians? Are you mad?"

Green Arrow shrugged, though tried to hold firm. His voice gave away his almost childish desperation though. "Women and children first?"

Dinah glared at him. "How about my foot up your ass?"

"OK then, how about civilians and the wounded first?" Green Arrow tried a new tack. Black Canary wasn't stupid. She could tell what his goal was. He wanted her out of here, because he was worried about her. It was sweet and all, but she didn't need him to be worried about her, especially right now. She needed him to let her play this her own way. Besides which, she was worried about him, too. This was no time for any macho posturing, and she wasn't going to have any of it. Still, he was determined to at least play out the argument. "Look, I heard about what happened. I'm glad to see those droids didn't get you bad, but they still got you. And hey, if nothing else then do it for Wildcat. Someone has to pilot the shuttle while the medics are looking after him, and only the members of the League are trained for that…"

"Of which there are plenty, a lot of whom are younger and more innocent than me," Black Canary fought back. "Face it, Robin Hood. You stay to help the rest, then I stay too. I can handle it. So I'll be doing it. Wildcat's already in good hands, at least one pair of which will be able to fl–"

"I'll do it." Canary and Green Arrow had become lost in their brief argument, so lost that they had forgotten they weren't alone in the room, even with most now out of there talking the docs into their plan. Speedy was still there with them, and it was he who had just interrupted, bringing both sets of eyes onto him. Even so, he didn't falter. "I'll fly the shuttle. Hell, the two of you won't settle this any time soon, and someone has to do it before the bomb goes off, right? So I'll do it. I'll get the docs and Wildcat clear. It's still saving people, after all. And even if I'm not so innocent, I am younger…"

"Watch it you!" Green Arrow blurted out at the closing quip. It was remarkable that the pair of them managed to share a slight joke at a time like this. As for Black Canary, she was just feeling grateful.

"Thanks, Roy," she said, flashing the younger man a genuine smile of appreciation. That was all that there was time for though.

It was in that moment that the red blur sped past again, the sound of screaming coming from the nurses in his arms who clearly had not had much warning of the speeds they were about to hit. Others were following, STRIPE leading the way. Soon it was clear that he was in position to keep the path clear, for tight behind him Stargirl flew, staff in action as planned, Vigilante and Shining Knight staying close to ensure her charge stayed steady. Close behind was the platform which she was carrying, a platform literally torn from the decks of the Infirmary. Conway and some of her staff were still up there working away. Working away on a very broken looking man. Dinah had to force herself not to look away at the sight of Wildcat in such a disparaged state. She had to force herself to remember that she had just so vigorously argued that she could still do a job to save lives. She had to focus on that. Emotions could now wait until later.

That odd train of people was soon disappearing out through the smashed blast doors and towards the Javelins. With a final nod of confirmation, a nod that spoke so loudly of just how serious he was when he said he'd look after Ted, Speedy turned and gave chase, ready to do his job as the pilot. They were gone. They were on their way. And Black Canary felt safe in thinking that those medics and their patient would make it clear, whether the bomb actually went off or not.

It was everyone else that they had to worry about now.

"Thought I might stay and lend a hand, in case there's any more accidents during the evacuation," a gruff voice suddenly spoke up behind her. Dinah turned to see Doctor "Iceberg" Eisenhower standing there. "I imagine there's going to be plenty of panic, and it seems there's more than one unwelcome surprise around here today. Wouldn't want you folks getting caught with your pants down if someone else gets hurt and needs treating on the way out too. Besides which, you're not the only folks who want to save lives."

The older man was in his scrubs, but they weren't blood spattered like Conway's had been as she had passed by. It looked like he wasn't at the fore of the operation, even if he had been during the preliminary treatments when Wildcat first got here. No matter how noble his train of thought was, though, Canary found herself wishing that he had stayed with Ted. That man needed all the help he could get. And he _had_ to live.

"Fine," Canary answered, her voice as warm as Doctor "Iceberg's" so usually was. "But I hope you can keep up. _Both_ of you," she quickly added, turning to face Green Arrow again. "Because despite what I just argued, I don't fancy hanging around here any longer than we have to. So let's go and get people safe, before we all get crisp and toasted."

* * *

There were three of them in the latest room. All of them looked up at her wide eyed as she heaved the doors to the latest set of quarters open, utilising her strength. The trio of civilian staff, all dressed in their traditional purple, were clearly very worried about what was going on. The sight of the legendary Wonder Woman standing before them appeared to help ease their tension slightly, but it was only slightly.

After all, they had good reason to be tense.

"John, I've got three more!" Wonder Woman bellowed out into the corridor behind her. From the moment that they had left the commissary they had gotten to work. There may have been a high amount of heroes on the Watchtower at the time, but there was a lot more civilian personnel, spread throughout a lot of crew quarters, and behind a whole lot of blast doors. Even with the strength and speed of the Justice League, it was taking time to make sure that they all got out safely. Time that they didn't have.

Green Lantern swooped in from behind Diana, the light from his ring surging ahead of him. Merely getting to the civilians wasn't enough. They had to get them out too. Wonder Woman, Shayera and Superman were the ones creating the path to the civilians. It was up to the other Leaguers to make sure that they got to the Javelin bay, fast. For the non-powered heroes there wasn't much for them to do other than guide and then pilot the shuttle out of the hangars when the time came. For others, there was still plenty to do. Flash had shown up not too far into all of this having been let out of the Infirmary, his speed enabling him to ferry vast amounts of the civilians out of there. Green Lantern was in a similar position, only he would be going in bulk as opposed to multiple trips. With a bubble created by his ring, he already had close to fifteen civilians in tow. Now he was gathering up another three.

"I'm going to get these people to the Javelin bay!" John hurriedly announced. "I won't be able to travel fast if I have any more to carry, and this is just about enough to pack out the next shuttle."

"Go!" Wonder Woman called back, knowing that John had a point. He didn't wait around before disappearing back out down the corridor, not even leaving a trace of green light as he lugged all of those people away. But that wasn't the end of it. Turning back around to take in what was still to be done, Wonder Woman could see the plethora of doors still sealed in front of them. Doors which would all have people behind them, people who needed to escape too.

"Two more here!" It was Shayera calling out this time. She was across the way from Diana, working her own section a few doors down.

Superman was leading the charge on all of this, his great powers enabling him to clear far more doors than most. It was because of that that Flash was largely preoccupied dealing with the people Superman set free, including in that moment. GL had been looking after those from Shayera and Diana, but now he was gone. However, they couldn't sit back and ask those people to wait for him to return.

"I'll take them," Wonder Woman hollered, swooping in to stand beside Shayera. Just like the others, the pair of civilians Shayera had found were staring up at her with a look of panic and hope combined. "Keep working, Shayera. John'll get back soon."

Wonder Woman did not wait around any longer, did not wait for Shayera to offer an affirmative statement. Taking one of the pair in each hand, Wonder Woman was quickly flying, getting those people out of there and through the sweeping corridors.

The sight of that timer on the bomb was still going through her head. She could remember it so vividly, as if it were still in front of her eyes. In turn, that meant she could figure out exactly how long they still had.

She had to fight off the urge to comm Nightwing then and there and get a status report. She knew that he would not need that distraction, that he would tell her if and when he got a result.

Still, things were getting far too close for comfort.

* * *

And there he'd been thinking that the Justice League had things made. There he was having actually felt moments of jealously about these guys and their team. Now all of that just seemed foolish. Now it seemed that the Justice League were in big, big trouble.

Nightwing had reached the bomb in no time, but Wonder Woman had been right to sound worried over the communicator. Now that he'd had a proper look at it, Nightwing could see that the thing indeed packed a serious kick. There was enough ordinance in there that, if it blew in there, the Watchtower would have no chance. In fact, they'd be doing well if the explosion wouldn't warm things up down below too.

He got to work and he got to work fast. Training under a man as dedicated and unyielding as Bruce, there were many fields in which Nightwing had developed a mastery. Bomb disposal, thankfully, was one of them. He knew all about disarming trigger mechanisms, about separating the ordinance from the detonator and about when to just grab the thing and hurl it out of there. Right now, all of those skills were coming into play.

The problem was, not one of them was getting him anywhere. The frustration was definitely building. Hell, even some panic was setting in, a feeling Nightwing rarely allowed himself to have. It wasn't one he could afford in his line of work but, right now, with that timer staring him so brightly in his face, it was one that was definitely hitting him. Especially considering that for all of his efforts, he was no closer to stopping the coming boom than he had been at the start of this.

Every time that he had thought he was getting somewhere, a new trap would show its ugly face. Just when he thought he was shutting the whole thing down, he noticed that it would just detonate the thing. When he thought he could disconnect the timer and stop it that way, he noticed that doing so would just act as a trigger too. When he thought about removing the entire bomb to get it away from the core, he noticed how it was tied into the Watchtower's own wiring in such a manner that moving it would wind up shutting down the life support. And there were many, many other such traps too. Granted they were all traps that Nightwing possessed the ability to work around, but all of those work arounds would take time, time that they did not have.

In the oddest of ways, it was a good job that the Watchtower's computer had earlier featured a trap of its own when Nightwing had tried to find out who was responsible for this. It was because of that that he was so on his toes, that he had cast off any overconfidence that things in the presence of the Justice League would just be easy. Regardless, though, there were just too many of the damn things.

How the hell did the Joker get a bomb so complex up here? And how had he managed to hack the training robots and leave Bruce that message, how had he managed to hack the Watchtower's computer to end up disabled and useless, and how had he planted the Smilex canister that had lured them here? And, perhaps most accurately, _who_ had helped him to do it?

Nightwing almost swore as he hit yet another dead end. This was starting to get ridiculous. Every single avenue seemed to be shut to him. In itself that didn't make any sense. Nightwing knew from experience that there was always a way to disable these things. _Always_. And yet this time, nothing he could think of was working. Most people might react to that by thinking that they were failing, that they just weren't thinking of the right technique. As for Nightwing, Bruce had rubbed off on him too much. He _knew_ that he had everything needed to shut this thing down, which meant that the fact he couldn't was very troublesome. At least one of his efforts should have paid off, but instead it now seemed like this bomb was far more traps than it was explosives.

In fact, it was almost like there wasn't actually any real bomb to shut down in the first place…

Nightwing's jaw clenched. Surely not? Surely that wasn't it? But then, it was suddenly the only thing that made any sense to him.

A quick glance back at the timer made up his mind. It was showing barely a minute to go. Time was just about out. Nothing else was getting him anywhere. Nothing else had a chance of saving lives. At least this way he did still have _some_ chance to do that.

And so he gambled. He had noticed earlier that sensors were linked up to the trigger which would send a signal through if the bombs outer casing was removed, leading to what Nightwing knew was essentially a glorified off switch underneath. It was because of that that he had left that main casing alone. Now, with the notion rumbling through his head, he threw caution to the wind. Now he yanked the casing free.

And just as he now thought, no explosion came. For several seconds he waited, waited for the fiery doom, but it was not coming. His thought had been right. The bomb, after all that, was a dud.

Which just brought about another question. Why had the Joker bothered to have it planted there in the first place if he never wanted it to detonate? But Nightwing wasn't waiting around long to discover the answer to _that_ question.

" _Hellooooo, Justice Dweeb!_ " The Joker's voice boomed out from within the "bomb". With the casing removed, Nightwing could spot the speaker that was built into that interior. The speaker which meant that the Joker had just played them all for fools, all over again. " _With_ old Bat Breath _distracted coming after me in Gotham, I don't know which one of you it is out there at my lovely_ shell of a bomb, _but I hope its dear, sweet Wonder Toots. Whoever it is though, I have to say, you've just fallen for my gag hook, line and_ sinker _! Hoohoo, yes, what a lark! What a_ fool _you must look! And not just because you're out and about dressed in your pyjamas…_ Why _would I_ ever _want to just blow you all out of a sky in one big_ bang _? Every good joke needs a_ bit _of staying power! Hahahaha, ha ha ha he ha ha HA! No, I want this one to be a real zinger! I want it to really_ sting _. I want it to hurt, and I want all the big players in my little game to_ feel _it. See, I know you hero types too well. I know just how_ badly _you take failure. And what bigger failure can there be than being partly responsible for the deaths of a bunch of innocent little civilians and kiddies? Well, other than watching helplessly as they all go boom while they were thinking they were getting_ away _from the danger zone, of course! And now that you've discovered my little recording, that's going to happen, at any second! HA HAHAHAHAHA!"_

Nightwing almost reached out and crushed the speaker with his bare hands. The Joker really had played them. He had figured out the truth of the situation even while the Joker's apparent latest recording was playing, and it was far from something that he felt like laughing at. Everything they had done in the last minutes, every step they had taken to help people since that toxin alert had gone off in the central hub, it had all played right into the Joker's hands.

And now innocent people were about to suffer for that mistake.

Nightwing quickly activated his comm. He could only hope that they were not too late.

* * *

Once again it seemed to Wonder Woman like she had crossed the length and breadth of the Watchtower in next to no time. She had arrived in the hangar, immediately setting down both of her two civilian charges aboard the next Javelin in the queue. This one was almost there, just waiting for GL to arrive with his group so that both it and the next one could go. Unfortunately ferrying so many people had meant that John had had to travel slower than Diana could, though he would not be far behind.

Several Javelin's had already launched, heading fast towards the safety of Earth. From a flying comment that Flash made before he was dashing off again to fetch the next group Superman had released, Wildcat and the medics had been on the first one out. The civilians had then started going on the rest, piloted in most cases by the younger and more inexperienced members of the League. Of course, rather than forcing a Javelin to wait around for more civilians to arrive, sometimes active Leaguers had been forced to take the empty seats. Better the Javelin left full than stayed that second too long.

"But surely us heroes have a duty to stick around until all the civilians are clear?" Wonder Woman heard Stargirl arguing about exactly that point as she started descending the ramp. STRIPE, her step-father, was stood over her, as if to ensure she didn't try to step one foot off the Javelin. It seemed he had decided that she was going to be taking a seat on this one, whether it was as passenger or pilot.

"Just like I have a duty as a father," STRIPE countered her. "You may be old enough to make your own choices, but go with me on this one. You're staying on this ship and getting clear, even if I have to stay too and pin you down to it."

The argument went on, Stargirl wanting to stay and help and STRIPE worrying about her safety. Wonder Woman, though, had no time to stop and listen. She hit the bottom of the ramp just in time to step out of the way and allow a recently arrived Green Lantern by, complete with all of his civilian charges. She offered him a brief nod as he immediately began unloading, clearly itching to get back out there and gather up the next bunch of innocents. Even then, though, Wonder Woman wasn't about to wait around. The muscles in her legs flexed as she prepared to launch herself up into the air for another mad dash through the station. However, the incoming comm call got in the way of that plan.

"Nightwing to Wonder Woman!" the voice of Batman's ally rang out in her ear. There was enough urgency in there to make Wonder Woman stop to listen. Since this was the man trying to stop the bomb, what he said was going to be worth hearing. "The bomb in the reactor room, it's a fake! The Watchtower's not going to explode. The Joker played us, and he left another message in it. He _wanted_ us to evacuate! He said he wanted us to watch our people die, to cause it. Diana, you have to warn people! I think the _real_ bombs are on the Javelins we've been loading up the civilians onto! You've got to get them out of there!"

If only she had the time, Wonder Woman would have frozen. The Javelins. The Joker and his _ally_ had tricked the Justice League. With a fake bomb they had made the Justice League think evacuating the Watchtower would save lives, that the Javelins would be chariots to sanctuary. Instead, the Javelins were more like the boat of Charon, leading those aboard away from the realm of the living. Wonder Woman knew Nightwing was sure about this, and she had no reason to doubt him. The bomb in the reactor was no bomb at all. The real bombs were on the Javelins, the Javelins which they had just loaded scores of civilians and heroes onto. The Javelins which would be about to explode.

That was why Wonder Woman couldn't freeze. She had to act fast, and act fast she did. Her brain was acting fast too. Nightwing had said that the Joker wanted the Justice League to see the chaos. He wanted them to see people die. _See_ it, not just know it. A bomb inside the Javelin would certainly kill everyone within its reach and likely cause great damage to the Javelins. But the hull would catch some of the blow. It wouldn't be as big a spectacle as it would be if the bomb were on the _outside_. On the exterior, the explosion would rip its way through the hull just as much, but it would be so much more visible. And no doubt the bombs were powerful enough that the damage they would do would still be enough to instantly kill all within.

And just like with the fake in the Watchtower, the best way to guarantee that would be to put the bomb right on the fuel source in order to set off a chain reaction. An even bigger explosion, to ensure that the League survivors all _saw_ it. Because of that, she immediately leapt up to the top of the Javelin, to where she knew the engine was housed.

"Diana, what're you _doing_?" Green Lantern called up to her as soon as she jumped. More than that, as soon as the last civilian had stepped clear of his bubble of transportation, he was chasing her, following her up to the top of the Javelin and hovering just behind her shoulder. Wonder Woman had no time to explain though. She only had time to act.

It didn't take her long to spot it. These things couldn't have been planted for too long. Any maintenance crew would have discovered them if they had looked remotely close to the engines. Otherwise, they were hiding in pretty plain sight. After simply tearing off the outer hatch, Wonder Woman was staring down into the engine housing.

And the bomb that was in there too. The bomb which was counting down too. The bomb on the same timetable as the counter had shown down in the reactor room.

The counter which was almost at zero.

That sight alone was enough to explain everything to John that he needed to know. He didn't hesitate. There wasn't time to try and defuse it the old fashioned way, especially if it was the same on all the Javelins. They had to risk it. John immediately had the light billowing from his ring, latching around the newly discovered bomb. But that wasn't the only stream of light he had sent out. More followed instantly, dashing to every Javelin still in the hangar. In the blink of an eye and with great willpower he had the engine compartment of all the shuttles ripped open. Sure enough, even from this angle Wonder Woman could see as he latched onto more bombs within each and every one of them. All the Javelins were in peril.

And that would include the ones that had already left the hangar.

From the look on his face, John clearly knew that too, but he had another problem to handle first. With his ring he may have been the one of them - at least of those still in the hangar - with a chance of venturing into space and getting to those people in time. The problem was he still had those in the hangar to save first. He had a whole host of bombs to get rid of, bombs which thankfully hadn't blown yet with the attachment of his light. A quick glance, though, was all it took before John was away. Flying as fast as he could, Green Lantern zoomed from the hangar and out into space, all of those bombs in tow, leaving a much shaken looking hangar behind, with an even more shaken looking bunch of people inside it.

Wonder Woman did not hesitate either. There was still at least one thing she could do. She could still warn those in the Javelins that had already taken off. She could still hope that maybe those on board them could find someway to save themselves in the seconds before the countdown hit zero.

"Wonder Woman to all Javelins!" she called out into her comm, just hoping that she was not too late…

* * *

"Wonder Woman to all Javelins! We've been tricked! The bombs are attached to the Javelins engines, not the Watchtower! GLs coming to get rid of them, but do whatever you can to get out of there!"

Even over the sound of the explosion, GL heard Diana's desperate message. He had hurled the horde of bombs the instant he had cleared the hangar bay, launching them out in the direction of the sun and otherwise empty space. He had done so just in time too. Thank heavens it was light he controlled, with all of its fabled speed. There was clearly some sort of anti-tampering mechanisms in the Javelin bombs to prevent them being so easily torn free. If it weren't for being able to shift them with such speed, GL might never have managed to get the bombs clear in time.

As it was, he had just about made it. The blast of all of them combined was huge. The shockwave struck him hard, breaking apart the arm of light he had used to hurl the things away. Thankfully he managed to hold together the shroud that meant he was able to breathe and fly out here. That meant he didn't have to waste any time bringing it back into play.

Especially when there were another batch of Javelins to save.

GL could count seven of them from his view, but they had all moved fast and far. Which included their angles. Once again GL knew that his best hope of getting them all in time was his ring. The light it projected could reach the Javelins quicker than he could. He just had to be able to see what he was doing. Otherwise he would just end up tearing the Javelins apart before the bombs ever had the chance to.

As quickly as he could he made to reposition himself to get the angle on the Javelins that he needed. As he did so they got lucky in at least one way. Diana's warning had clearly gotten through. With the ramp quickly opening, Doctor Light was soon flying out from one of the Javelins, her own light aura enabling her to fly through space. With all the rest from her Javelin holding tight onto her to make use of that aura themselves, she was getting the passengers of one of the shuttles clear.

But that still left six others. Six others with a rapidly reducing timer, and likely no one on board who could do anything to stop it. GL grit his teeth. The angle still wasn't right for all of them but he couldn't adjust any longer. It was now or never. He had run out of time. Desperately he launched the light beams forward from his ring once again, heading for each of the six.

Only a couple of seconds later, the bombs blew.

* * *

Credit where it was due, Doctor Conway and her team didn't stop working for a single second, despite Wonder Woman's desperate warning being played out over the Javelins speakers for all to hear. There was nothing that any of them could do against a bomb on the outside of the engines, after all. Instead and with encouragement from the good doctor, they had all kept going in the hope that Green Lantern would get to them in time. They had kept going as if all their efforts to save the still unconscious Wildcat weren't futile anyway.

As for Speedy, he had practically been frozen by fear. There was nothing that he could do either. After only a second's hesitation he had flung the Javelin around, sending it hurtling back the way it had come with the intention of closing the gap to Green Lantern and making his task of saving them that bit simpler. Even then, though, they were still on the furthest Javelin from him. Worse, other than his action, there was really nothing that he could do. That fact, combined with the shear desperation that had lined the voice of someone who had been through as much as Wonder Woman had, had really managed to drain Speedy of all the hope that he had.

He really hadn't expected things to end like this.

"Come on, come on, more suction!" Conway commanded one of her nurses in the background, clearly drawing a wandering mind back to the task at hand. The task that distracted them from what was coming, in a way that Roy couldn't replicate for himself. He had nothing to do but watch, watch and hope that his fears would be unfounded. The Justice League had pulled off some pretty remarkable feats in their time after all. What was to say that this wouldn't ultimately prove to be one of those moments?

That was the chain to set off the hope in him again. A chain which got bigger as Speedy stared out through the forward viewport. Out in the distance he could spot the speck of light that was Green Lantern. The next second, he spotted the rays of light blasting out in the direction of all the Javelins out there, ready to leap to their rescue.

The problem was that that hope was a distraction too. It momentarily stopped Speedy's mind from working as quick as it should have done, and in that situation it was a moment too long. The green speck was low in Speedy's viewport, too low, especially considering that Green Lantern was still so far away, and Wonder Woman had said the bomb was in the engines up top on the Javelin. There was no way that the Green Lantern could see what he was doing. What was worse, by the time Speedy realised that, it was too late to do anything about it. It was too late to dip the Javelin's nose and give Green Lantern the line of sight that he would need for such a precise act.

It was too late. All of Speedy's hope vanished as quickly as it had returned. It was gone before the light even struck.

The Javelin rocked beneath them all as Green Lantern's light hit the hull. There was a brief moment where everything was unclear, where there was no way of them to have any certainty as to whether he was successful or not. However, the next second Speedy saw as the light began to retract, as if to pull the bomb clear. And yet there was no bomb within that light. Green Lantern had tried to get it, but he had missed. His effort to save them had only succeeded in rocking the boat.

The bomb was still aboard, and it didn't take a genius to figure out it was soon to go.

Despite it all, though, Roy Harper didn't regret volunteering for this. Yes he had regrets in his life, he had made mistakes. But he had been here to help out a friend, very good _friends_. He had been here trying to save lives. At least he could go out knowing that he had tried. That, at times at least, he had managed to make a real difference in this world.

Slowly he turned his head back to look at Wildcat at the medics behind him. He did so just in time for Doctor Conway herself to look up and catch his eye. In that moment he saw all the recognition in her noble eyes. She never stopped working, but it was there. She knew this was the end too. No doubt she saw the same resignation in Speedy's eyes looking back at her.

But even though that only lasted the briefest of moments, it was too much for him. Perhaps Wildcat was actually the lucky one, not being awake to face this. Throughout all the dangers and the turmoil of his life, in the back of his mind Speedy had almost felt like he was invulnerable. After all, how often did a member of the Justice League bite the big one? He had thought that he would see this all out to the very end, until old age and beyond. The fact that he had been so very wrong in that was just too depressing, a feeling heightened all the more by the look he had seen in Doc Conway's eyes. It wasn't the kind of thing that Speedy wanted to have as his last thought.

That was why, for as long as he could, he tried to put his mind back to the happier times in his life. With his eyes now shut tight, he remembered the joys he had experienced before, the adventures, the friends. He made sure that his last thought a good one.

And then the fireball took them.

* * *

 _ **A/N:**_

 _ **So... Been a while hasn't it? Truth be told, I wasn't expecting to be back after the last one, not with "the event" making me lose all the joy from doing this. But, lucky for you, I am now in a ridiculously good mood. I just got back from two weeks out trailing the EUROs in France (7 games!), and the joy is definitely there from that. Then, when I get back, I see more good stuff from the DCEU getting announced that will hopefully get more appreciated this time, and just happened to stumble onto my file for this...**_

 _ **So here's the deal. I'm not continuing to write anything new just yet, baby steps and all that. I am also far more interested in other things right now rather than finishing this beast off. Far more interested. But I do have a back log of chapters that I had prepared earlier just waiting to go through the editing room. Because of my good mood, I have now decided to start sporadically releasing those for those of you who want to see them. And, if the reactions are strong in both thoughts and numbers**_ _ **, I will undoubtedly start to get some of the buzz back for this**_ _ **(**_ AKA, review a LOT if you want more! _ **)**_ _ **. Especially if people take to Suicide Squad come August too, and we don't get even more overly dreary reactions to another superhero film not bearing the Disney logo. Those are just no fun to constantly hear at all, especially with that word "overly".**_

 _ **And who knows, if the buzz comes back, I may even head back to the forum too, but, and this is to CP and the gang who I know will catch this, not straight away.**_

 _ **CP, I may see you again, but not yet. Not yet...**_


	11. Chapter 10: Line of Sight

**For my reviewers. Even my friend who hadn't read it yet.**

* * *

 **Chapter 10: Line of Sight**

 ** _Several Minutes Ago_**

"Are you sure we have to stay here, puddin'? I wanna go and watch the fireworks!"

"Sit down, Harley!" the clown quickly countered his crazed consort. "That's all going on way up in space! What do you expect to see from here?"

"Boom…?" Harley timidly answered, miming an explosion with one hand and holding up a telescope she had extracted from Lord knows where as she spoke, though clearly faltering somewhat under the Joker's enraged stare. The clown was getting impatient, and that had lead him to be in one of his angrier moods, as opposed to manic ones.

"Get your head back from the clouds, you dope!" Joker chastised her again. "You're forgetting what this is all _really_ about! The rest of these capes are nothing, not next to the Bat! Hitting the Leaguey Weagueys where they live is just the set up. _Batman_ is the punchline!"

"Yeah, but puddin', we're still just sitting around waiting down here. I wanna see the heroes exploding…" Quinn moaned, sounding almost like a spoiled child starting to throw a tantrum.

"Forgive this bird for interrupting your discussion, but it is clear that you are waiting for news of our exploits with the rodent at the home of the now very _ex_ -Mayor. Well I can assure you that our woman in the vicinity is highly skilled and highly drilled. She will inform us once she is in position and things are set for the next phase of your comedic caper. Since we must await that signal, might you inform me as to what shenanigans you refer? Every good businessman must make a point to know the dealings of those he goes into business with, after all."

Penguin had finally interrupted after finally listening to the two jesters squabble for one sentence too many. Plenty of time had passed since Penguin had left his office to sit in the main part of the Iceberg Lounge with the Joker and his moll. It was time that had all been spent waiting while the mercenaries in Gotham got themselves sorted, got themselves ready and into position for the night that was to come. This was clearly very important to the Joker, something he, uncharacteristically, seemed to be taking very seriously. The clowns sheer focus on getting this night right had created almost a nervousness amongst the rest of them. Penguin himself had remained very quiet, other than keeping the Joker informed about their men and women in the field. Cornelius, his bodyguard, had actually taken to standing as far back as he could to do his job, so as to be as far away from the clown as he could get while still doing his duty. Only Harley ever really interrupted what seemed to be intense concentration on the Joker's part, and then she was being constantly shot down.

Of course, now that the time was upon them more of the Joker's traditional self had started to creep in again. At least it had done when he gave the first order to the mercenaries to do what they were hired to do. The Joker's laughter had reigned supreme as he had ordered "Hammy" to be the first to die. After that though, he had largely settled back into his concentrating state, waiting for the next opportune moment, especially once he was told Batman had arrived by the killer he had ordered to stick around, even after Hill was shot.

Now though, as the Penguin asked him the question, the smile was coming back to those red lips. That was good. Penguin would have hated it if the Joker had snapped and Cornelius been forced to "take care of him" in order to protect his employer. After all, until they knew whether the Bat would be able to escape the carefully laid trap the Joker was singlehandedly planning for him, the clown was still of use.

"Why _Pengy_ , of course! You won't have heard!" Joker exclaimed. "The _whole world_ will want to hear about this soon enough, and I'll tell them, but only _after the Bat goes splat_! But for you, my friend, I'll spill the secret a little early, as a _token of gratitude_ for all your _hospitality_. I've done what so many folks have tried but none have _ever_ managed to do. I've hit the Justice League right where it hurts. And I'm not meaning the gonads… First I _arrange it_ so their own little robot marching band goes wacko and beats a few of the _runts to a bloody pulp_ , then I have it so their systems all shut down on them, then I trick them into thinking the whole place is going to go _boom right around their grubby little ears!_ And then, hoo hoo, the pièce de résistance. Just when they're all getting their innocents and their younglings the heck out of there on the little _Javelins_ of theirs, _oh hahahaha_ , that's when the real bombs went off! That's when all those kiddies they tried to save became _a billion specks of dust!_ All while the more senior head, including _Wonder Toots_ , watched on, _helplessly! Ha! Hahahahaha_! It's _brilliant_! Ah _ahahahahaha!_ "

"Indeed so, Joker," Penguin said as the Joker laughed away, his voice but a drawl as he took in what he was hearing. He had no idea that the Joker's plan would go quite this far. He wasn't sure how he felt about that. The Penguin had had plenty of run-ins with the Bat, and would likely have plenty more going forward if they didn't do anything to change that. But the entire Justice League combined… Now that was an animal that Penguin did not want to enrage. He far more enjoyed sneaking in under the radar, but if the Joker was taking this right to them, perhaps that was not going to last. That was why his voice was so flat. "Indeed so."

"And that's not even the best part!" the Joker resumed, as if Penguin had never said anything at all. "When _Batsy_ hears about this it's going to cut him deeper than any knife _ever_ could! At least until when I catch up to him at the end of this night and _plunge mine straight through him_! Ahahahaha _hahaha ahahahaha!"_

"But pray tell, my friend," Penguin spoke up again, seeing that it was the time to ask the question again that he had asked before. "How is it that you have managed to accomplish all of this mayhem? How is it that you have eyes on the rodent and hands on his allies?"

"Oh, I have a _special friend_ with them up in space," Joker explained as the laughter died down enough. In fact, he was starting to sound serious all over again. "A friend who'll _keep up the good work_. But speaking of which, _isn't it about time that damn agent of yours hurried up and called in again?!_ "

That wasn't the first time that the Joker had made a remark of such an ilk. However, this was the time when he had selected his moment most aptly. Barely had the Joker finished the words than the beeping sound was issuing from back behind Penguin. Cornelius displayed his lack of adequate brainpower by taking a moment to respond, but soon he was stepping forward, holding out the chiming radio ready for Penguin to answer.

"Yes?" Penguin said into the device Cornelius held before him. "I trust you have good news for your financier, my dear."

"Depends what he thinks of as good," the voice came back from the other end. It was a voice that Penguin recognised, the voice of one of the best of Ottman's troop. Her name was Priya Shah, a woman who had honed her skills fighting in the seemingly endless battlefields of the Middle East, right near her native lands. And those skills were _well_ honed. That was why Penguin had seen to it that she would be the one in place for the first of the Joker's targets. That was the best way of ensuring that nothing went wrong when the inevitability of the nosey rodent arriving struck. "I just got into my new position to observe some more, calling in as requested. The cops are now swarming all over the place to get a look at Hill's corpse. The commissioner himself showed up for a gander. In fact, he's stood over the body right now. I'm looking right at him through my scope. Bit odd that he's in there alone but… No, wait. There's someone else in there with him, lurking in the shadows. It's… It's Batman!"

"May I?"

That was odd, so odd that Penguin had to look up in surprise at the clown. He was not normally one to ask permission, certainly not so _politely._ Because of that, Penguin could not hold back from allowing the Joker to take over the radio, despite the fact that until then Penguin had done all of the talking with those in the field. At Penguin's gesture, the Joker snatched out like a pouncing python, grabbing the radio from Cornelius' clutches to the extent that the big bodyguard actually recoiled.

"Miss… _Shah_ , isn't it? Do you still have the _special_ armour that was set aside for you? Say yes if you want to stay in my good books. I'd hate for you to get _hurt_ if those police numbskulls track you down."

"Erm… Yes, yes I still have it. I'm wearing that vest, just as instructed," Shah answered the Joker, sounding confused, clearly not knowing who she was talking to, but playing along since the Penguin wasn't complaining. "Are you wanting me to go into the heart of the action next rather than just sniping? What is it, a more personal attack required for the next target?"

"Something like that," the Joker dodged the question. "First though there's a little something else I want you to do for me, from right where you are now, especially if you want to see even one of those dollars you're after. I want you to kill the commissioner, however you see fit."

"You're the boss."

Even as Shah accepted the Joker's order, this time the Penguin really did turn to stare at the Joker in shock. Not that the clown had ordered another death, nor that Commissioner James Gordon was the target. It was the fact that the Joker had given that order in spite of the fact that Shah had already confirmed that Batman was on the scene too. Killing the commissioner, a known ally of his, would certainly bring Shah to the rodent's attention. In fact, Penguin had the very real sense that the Joker had just sacrificed one of their best operatives to the enemy.

And that was even if the Bat didn't save the good Commissioner any way. Considering it all, Penguin could not help but wonder what the Joker's angle was. He had been under the impression that the plan had been to scaremonger around Gotham, to stretch the Bat thin and set the city, ablaze before giving him his own end. This did not align with that plan.

Throw in the attack on the Justice League and now this, Penguin suddenly found that he was _really_ interested in finding out everything the Joker had in mind for that night.

The next second, Penguin heard the gunshot sound over the still open line. The fact that Shah did not immediately come back with a comment on its success was not a good sign.

* * *

The grapnel reeled in fast, dragging him along with it. In no time he had cleared the crevice between the buildings but that wasn't enough. Batman had his shoulder tucked in already as he flew up to the rooftop, enabling him to roll and keep moving as soon as he got there.

The sniper was already on the run. They may have been brazen enough to kill the former mayor and attempt to murder the police commissioner, but they apparently weren't foolhardy enough to stand and fight. The shooter was practically at the entrance to the stairwell that led down into the building by the time Batman was on his feet again. He had the batarang hurled before he got that high up, though. The problem was that this assassin was good. Just as she was about to disappear into the building's innards she spun, using the butt of the very rifle she'd used to shoot at Gordon to block the batarang from striking her. She didn't stop moving either. The next second she was out of sight.

But she would not be for long. Batman gave chase, thundering after her along the roof with his cape billowing behind him. This building was plenty wide enough. He had a lot of ground to cover, but he made it in record time. Soon he was bounding through the doorway that the assassin had left open in their wake.

Batman paused when he got there. Patience, intelligence and strategy were always key, even when speed and timing were vital. From his position, Batman could take in everything, could plot his next move. It was a square stairwell, dropping down as far as the eye could see to the lowest floor down below. The place was lit, becoming increasingly so, starting from the top down. Batman soon spotted why. They must have been on a motion sensor, and there was plenty of motion on those stairs below him.

There the assassin was, running down as fast as her feet would carry her. She had made it down about three storeys in the time it had taken him to reach the stairwell. It was nowhere near enough. Not for her.

Surefooted, Batman not only stepped forward but stepped _upwards_. He didn't chase the killer directly; he didn't head for the stairs. Instead he climbed up onto the handrail. And then he jumped.

The gap was closed before the killer had even descended several steps. Batman's cape billowed out behind him as he dropped, giving him a greater control of his fall. In fact, he was in great control of all of it. It was because of that that he was able to land with such precision and perfection. Tucking in his limbs to both brace and act, both of Batman's feet hit the banister just one flight below the running assassin, allowing him to spring himself down onto the steps beside it. It was an incredible physical feat, one that he would probably be feeling when this day was over. Right now, the testosterone was still pounding.

Slowly and in his full intimidating glory, Batman stood to his full height, glaring up at the killer who was now at the landing just above him.

He saw the panic in her eyes as she stared back down at him. It was his first proper look into them, and they were exactly like those of all of the many other killers and criminals he had dealt with in his time. There was plenty of coldness, perhaps even a little madness, but there was also plenty of fear. Fear that he could play on.

Fear that he was _already_ playing on.

She panicked. In that second it was almost like she completely forgot that she had the gun, even though Batman knew he could have dealt with it if she hadn't. Instead, flight beat fight. She kept on running, only this time in a whole new direction. She had one hell of an obstacle in her way down the stairs. However, the corridor leading off them to her right and into the heart of the building was wide open. It was that way that she skidded towards as soon as her legs would allow her.

In other circumstances that fact may have worried Batman, but he had scouted this place out on his way to investigate Hill's death. This building had once been a bustling hive of activity, a building full of people and their homes. This area wasn't always as prosperous a part of Gotham as it was these days. It was getting improved every day as part of a renovation of the area, the kind of renovation that Hill would have been playing on as part of his failed effort to get power back. It was the play toy of politicians, displacing good Gothamites from their homes in favour of an improved public image. Because of that, the entire building had been cleared out to be turned out into luxury apartments like Hill's. A bad move, a very bad move that Bruce Wayne was fighting, trying desperately to get those who had been displaced into decent homes, along with reparations. Right now, though, it was playing right into Batman's hands. With the building still having its cosmetics redesigned around its sturdy frame, not to mention the fact it was night time, there wouldn't even be the builders around right now. Most importantly, that meant no civilians to get caught in any crossfire, and no hostages for the assassin to try and protect herself with.

It was still just her, and him.

He gave chase, surging up the steps two at a time so that in only three strides he was at the same level as the assassin. However, he had barely stuck his head around the doorframe than he was being forced to duck back from whence he came.

It was the sound that saved him, that tell-tale sound that had haunted his every moment now for so, so many years. It was the sound of a gun being fired. The assassin had regained her composure. That alone told Batman that she was good; normally the criminals took far longer than that in his presence, the smart ones anyway. This killer, though, had tried to use surprise to her advantage. She had stopped and fired, likely from behind cover, clearly hoping to time it right to bring him down as he inevitably gave chase. Luckily, this wasn't his first ball game. Luckily, his skill got him out of the way as the bullet sailed harmlessly by into the wall at the opposite end of the stairwell.

Batman quickly ducked back down beside the frame as yet more bullets started raining in. They weren't constant or consistent, but they were enough to prevent him giving chase through the doorway. From the absence of any footsteps, she was clearly stationary, putting her cards into bringing him down. No doubt she also had a contingency plan, an idea to run, to escape from him. It was a contingency plan that she would surely put into action just as soon as she realised that Batman wasn't fool enough to walk right into her line of fire. However, he wasn't going to allow her to get away. Justice _would_ be served.

A quick scan of the area showed him exactly what he needed. The fuse box was just up above his head. Undoubtedly the shooter had some form of night vision gear, but in here she wouldn't have it on. Instead she was relying on the lights that had all come on with her motion, light that Batman was about to take away. She may have thought that she had him pinned down, that she had opened up her window of escape. But the darkness was his domain. No criminal escaped him.

Over the sound of ongoing gunfire, despite the risks of a stray bullet making it _through_ the walls, he stood and got to work. In no time, he had the job done. Practically a flick of a switch later, and the whole floor descended into blackness.

The assassin panicked once again. She was showing a tendency for that. As before, she seemed to have forgotten that she had the gear to handle this, forgot that she had night vision equipment. As soon as she noticed that her light was gone, all she could do was squeeze even tighter on her trigger. It was just a shame for her that her weapon wasn't an automatic. It meant that even under her constant shooting, the opening was there. Especially as she had lost her chance to aim.

Batman quickly shifted the cowl onto night vision mode. With it, he could easily see into the room. However, before he could go in, he heard the unmistakable click. It was again the sound of a gun trying to be fired. Unlike before, though, this time there were no more bullets.

The assassin growled in both frustration and fear, throwing her gun aside. But she didn't stop there. The sound of footsteps were immediately following. She must have miscalculated her remaining ammo. Now, for her, there was no option but to run.

In turn that was the signal for Batman not to wait around either. It was time for him to give chase again, and so chase he did. Batman didn't wait around. He surged onwards, charging into the abyss. Chances were he would have been able to close the gap quickly anyway. As things were, with him the only one who could see, that gap was closing even quicker.

He should have seen it coming. He should have recognised the signs. He should have _seen_ her actions, her motions. But he didn't, not until it was too late. He didn't see the flash-bang grenade that she dropped on the run until it was practically hitting the ground.

He made to switch off the night vision, but he was the merest fraction of a second too late. The grenade blew, sending blinding light out in all directions. Light that was even more blinding under night vision. So blinding that it was painful. For several moments Batman couldn't see a damn thing. The pain didn't really matter. What mattered was that, blinded, the assassin was having every chance to stretch out that gap all over again.

Eventually Batman managed to blink away at least some of the light, bringing himself _some_ vision back. With it he could see the assassin running onwards, running beyond the long, empty area devoid of all non-load bearing walls and furniture. Running straight into the lift at the far end of the building.

The lift which she then had descending before Batman could get to her.

But Batman didn't give up. She wasn't away from him yet. Even nearly blinded, Batman was not down and out. Slowly but surely he was getting his vision back. The assassin, though, would not be getting any freedom back. Not for a long, old time.

He skidded to a halt right in front of the closed lift doors, doors which had sealed only a few seconds before he got there. He did not wait around though. Quickly he drew the batarang from his belt. Even quicker he jammed it right into the gap between the two doors as hard as he could. Using the weapon as a lever, he pulled, dragging the doors apart enough to get his fingers inside the gap. Then, with all of his might and a growl of effort, he heaved the doors open wide.

The ruckus of mechanisms was unmissable as the lift car descended down towards to base of the building, ferrying the assassin away. Batman could have dove straight after it. He could have gone in direct pursuit, leaping onto the bar despite the distance and then going for the assassin from there. But that wouldn't solve all of the problem. The lift would then still be descending, carrying her further to the ground she was obviously keen to reach. If he wanted to strike fear into her even more, if he wanted to make his job of catching her that bit easier on himself, then halting that lift car before it reached the bottom was vital. That was the reason that his eyes were not drawn downwards straight away. Instead they had been drawn up, up towards the scaffolding still in place from where the redevelopers had already sorted out the lift shaft.

The scaffolding that held the temporary generator that was all hooked up to the lift mechanism. The generator that was clearly giving the lift all of the power it needed to shift.

Batman's hand dashed to his utility belt. Without even having to look his fingers clutched onto the right device within the right pouch. With an instant flick of his arm, he had the device flung. His aim was true as well. It stuck, right on the generator. It was then only a case of flicking the switch.

He had developed the pad as a way of dealing with brutish or superhuman foes that would have a great strength advantage over him. Every device, though, only got better if it could do more than one job. For such a small pad, it could sure hold a lot of current, current that all got released with just the press of a button. Right now, that button was pressed. Right now, all of that current was running through that generator, visibly so. So much so that the generator was being completely overloaded with raw electric power. It didn't take long for the generator to then give up the ghost. It was designed for electricity to run through it, but only so much. With all the extra that Batman had thrown in, it just couldn't cope.

The power was out.

The moving lift immediately groaned and squealed down below. The common misconceived thought would suggest that without power to hold it up or switch on the brakes the thing might plummet. In fact, the opposite was true. The loss of the generator switched off the electromagnets in the lift's brake systems, locking them onto the closed position and bringing that entire car, assassin and all, screeching to a halt down below.

She was sure to be panicking once again now. Batman had her trapped, right where he wanted her.

When he had leapt down the stairwell he had used his cape to steady his fall. This time he needed it for that job all the more. This time, as he calmly stepped off the ledge, he had even more storeys to plummet. Another of his newer gadgets, the cape that he could turn into a glider should he so wish. Right now, though, he was just falling, with style. In no time at all his feet were touching down onto the lift car that held the assassin. He made sure not to make it gentle though, that his impact sent the whole thing rocking. All the better to scare her with.

It would have worked beautifully, if only the assassin hadn't discovered a second clip of ammo that she had clearly forgotten earlier. The roof of the lift may have been metal but it wasn't thick enough stuff to stop the bullets. They were wild, weakened, but still deadly. And the assassin was firing madly and blindly once again. In fact, it was rather miraculous that Batman wasn't hit by those early shots. He wasn't about to stick around and let her find some luck, though. Drawing out his grapnel, he quickly zoomed back up the shaft, to the roof of a neighbouring car hung a floor and a half up from where the assassins had come to a juddering stop.

Through the holes she had shot in the lift Batman could hear the assassin's mad yells as she desperately tried to bring him down, not knowing that he had swung away. She may have been impeccable normally, but the sight of the Batman coming after her had clearly gotten to her far more than she had ever thought it would. Little did she know that she was about to see him again, up close and very personal.

Safe on the roof of the other car, Batman reached into his utility belt once again. Upon the successful field tests of the electroshock pads he had developed a variant. With thieves and scum always going after armoured vans full of cash and with the mobsters so fond of the armoured car or bunker, he had always had the need for some sort of explosive ordinance to be able to blow open sealed yet small places without harming the occupants within. That was what the explosive pad was designed to do; blast metal apart without sending deadly shrapnel and flames out with it.

Right now, with the assassin still all distracted shooting away, the latest pad did its job too. With only a small boom, the metal on the side of the assassins lift car was torn open before Batman's eyes. The whole lift rocked yet held onto its cables, though through the gap now created Batman could see as the assassin almost lost her footing. She lost poise just enough, was thrown off balance just enough that there was nothing that she could do to stop him.

Leaping and gliding once again, Batman hurled himself through the opening that he had just created. He kept going to, slamming all of his weight hard against the assassin, finishing the job of knocking her clean off her feet and the gun from her hand. As they both crashed down onto the metal floor of the lift car, her hand quickly darted for her own belt and the knife that she had sheathed there. Bad move. Batman spotted it immediately. With his power and the high ground, he easily caught her wrist. With his strength and a quick, jerking motion, he had her wrist snapped, the bone shattered. The assassin screamed instantly in pain, the knife suddenly forgotten, but Batman was not done. She could not be allowed the chance to remember how much she wanted to escape and to try something else. She could not be allowed to even partially forget the pain that he could cause her.

With his other hand he grabbed her by the forehead, slamming her head hard against the deck to smash the fight out of her even more. Afterwards and without hesitating, he grabbed her by the scruff of the neck. Considering he lacked the speed of Kent or the Flash, he moved remarkably quickly as he hoisted her up by it, before proceeding to thrust her towards the opening the he had made. He kept her in the lift, but he held her head out there, to the point where if he were to let go she would fall. Especially with only one working hand now, there was no way that she would save herself from what was still a fairly significant drop. That was a fact that she realised as soon as she blinked the stars away from her vision. Her eyes opened wide as she stared back and forth between the drop and his cowl, particularly at the intense fury that lined the visible part of his face.

" _Where_ is the Joker?!" To the outside ear it may have sounded like he had lost his control, but he hadn't. His training, his _extra_ training had seen to that. Yet he didn't want the assassin to know that. He wanted her to talk, to confess everything, starting with the clown's location. That was why he put so much anger into his voice, so much mad fury. That, thrown in with the fall that was facing her, was so typically Batman, and so typically worked. " _Who_ is the next target?! _Who_ are you?! _Why_ did you kill Hill?!"

"Why _not_ him?" the assassin growled out immediately, her eyes still darting between Batman and the drop but clearly giving up the thought of fighting her way out. There was a note of defiance in her voice but it was clearly for show. The way she started speaking without hesitation, the way she kept speaking, meant that she was clearly ready to blab. "You should know better than most of us how useless he was. Besides, my employer seemed to have a grudge against him, and promised me plenty of cash. _Of course_ I shot him. And the old fool Gordon was meant to be next, until you got in the way. Next for me anyway. I _can't_ tell you who'll be following the bastard Hill into the grave. Only the orchestrators knew that. Our assassins are everywhere, even if the rest are hardly Priya Shah. Now _let me back in_."

Priya Shah. That must have been her name. It was a name that Batman had heard of, an assassin he knew had operated out of the Middle East for years. But she had never come across Batman's radar, not least of all because she hadn't worked in Gotham before. For her to be here now showed even more that the Joker meant business. That wasn't good. But then, none of this whole thing was good. Both in Gotham, and far, far above…

" _Where is the Joker?!_ " Batman howled out, repeating the first question, not missing that Shah had dodged that one, the one that was perhaps the most important. Stopping the assassins one by one was all well and good, it could save lives, but stopping the Joker was the only way to bring an end to all of this fast. _All_ of it. Including what was happening on the Watchtower. Despite all of the action, Batman hadn't forgotten that, not even slightly.

" _The Joker_?" Shah repeated, starting to sound confused, almost like she had missed the words first time around. "I have no idea what you're talking about. I didn't know that that clown had anything to do with this. I was hired by the middle man of a middle man of an unknown employer. But hell, if that is the Joker, I don't care. And I have no idea where he is. All I ever cared about was that I get paid."

 _"_ _Oh, it's_ too _late for that, my_ dear _."_

Batman didn't say that line. Neither did Shah. Instead, it had come from elsewhere, an electronic source. It was that same voice again coming over a radio. That same, maddening voice that caused such chaos. It was the Joker all over again.

 _"_ _Hiya Bats!"_ the clown's voice continued to rain out over them. With his trained ear, Batman quickly picked out the source. It was coming from within Shah, from beneath the bullet proof vest she was wearing as part of her assassin's kit. " _Boy_ , a _m I glad to see you made it! I'd have hated for you to miss the show, particularly since it's all being done_ especially _for you. Well, you and that_ lovely _new bit of_ squeeze _of yours. I hope she's enjoying all of this too. You're just such a_ wonderful _pair, and not only because_ she's got such a wonderful pair _! Seriously, seeing her makes me want to upgrade my Harley! Ha! Hahahahahaha! Oh, Batsy, you_ do _make me laugh! But, you see, the thing is it's all still_ way _too early for you to find me, or to discover any more of tonight's little surprises. I'm sure you're Bat-chums are keeping you up to date with the big_ bang _going off in space about now. Well there's another one set to go too. One far,_ far _closer to home. Hehehehe ha hahahah ha! Later Bats! This broad's about to_ blow _!"_

Batman was in action before the Joker had even finished talking. He had to be. He had to act fast. He had picked up the Joker's meaning before he had even put it so bluntly. Utilising his hold over Shah, he practically threw her back inside the lift car and against the still closed doors. Shah was still too shocked, scared and hurting to do anything to oppose him. From the look on her face she had no idea that the Joker had any sort of radio on her, most likely told simply to keep some mysterious bit of kit on her for whatever her next task was supposed to be.

She still didn't resist as Batman drew a razor edged batarang and plunged it into her torso. The weapon didn't cut into her though. Her vest saw to that, the under part anyway. Kevlar, worn by an assassin who knew that she would possibly have to tangle with police gunners. Kevlar that had apparently been supplied to her by either one of the "middlemen" or the "employer", since she apparently didn't know what lay in wait for her inside it.

The Joker had always had a habit for disguising explosives and weaponry. His acid squirting flower lapel and exploding marbles were prime examples. This vest was another. It wasn't actually bullet proof or stab-proof as Shah had clearly thought when she had put it on in the false belief that it may protect her. Batman tore open the outer vest to reveal its innards in the exact same instant that the Joker stopped talking. Instead of linings and layers to help shield her, the Joker had used the vest to hide his radio, using it to listen in on everything. But that wasn't all he had used his special vest for.

He had used it to turn his own assassin into a living bomb.

A living bomb that was about to go off.

There was an electronic squeal, a kind of warning as if a signal had been received. Batman knew exactly what it meant without having to see the movement of the small mechanisms of the compact device. Shah clearly knew it too, her eyes widening in horror. Despite everything that she had done, Batman would have saved her if he had had just one second more.

But he didn't have that second. There wasn't time to rip that vest off of her. There wasn't time to cut it lose and then get them both clear. There was only time to jump.

Batman could feel the flames chasing him as he leapt out through the hole he had already blown in the lift car, trying not to think about the pieces of what was once Priya Shah that would be being blasted in all directions at the same time. He tumbled fast out of there, relieved once again that the lift had stopped with plenty of the building still left below. The Joker hadn't been able to make the explosion too large with such a small detonator, but he had done plenty well enough. The fireball bursting out said that plainly.

Batman fell fast, not bothering to slow himself with his cape this time. This time he needed to move rapidly to escape from the chaos. There was not only the flames, but all the damage they were doing too. The lift car was being shredded, shrapnel flying out. Most notably, the lift car finally gave up the ghost. After all it had been through, the cable finally snapped. The remains of the wrecked car fell, starting to come crashing down after him to deliver a death knell blow, even if Batman could have landed safely. And yet he could not grapnel up, not right away. He had to get clear of the flames first.

That was why he continued to let himself fall. That car came crashing towards him, its cables lashing out like a whip, with very little he could do to dodge. Thankfully he wasn't hit. Thankfully it didn't take him long to fall. Thankfully he was soon able to fire the grapnel.

He made it just before a chunk of shrapnel reminiscent of a dagger crashed through just where his body had been tumbling. Thankfully the second lift car survived the blast. For the second time in minutes, grapnelling onto the roof of that lift had just saved his life. Down below, the lift came to a tumultuous stop.

Steadily Batman stood atop the surviving car to his full height, staring down at the chaos that the Joker had just unleashed. There was plenty of it, just as there always was when that clown was loose. And this was just the start. Hamilton Hill was dead. They had tried to kill Jim Gordon. And now the one solid lead that they had to the Joker had just been killed in a fiery cataclysm.

All because of him. All because he had let Diana in. All because the Joker _knew_ …

This could not be allowed to go on. They may have only been at it for a short amount of time, but suddenly Batman knew that this had gone on for too long. The game of cat and mouse had gone on too long. Being stuck simply following the Joker's line of madness had gone on too long. This whole thing had to stop, before everything got even worse. They could _not_ allow things to get worse. _He_ could _not_.

"Batman? Batman, are you there? Are you all right? How's my… How's the _commissioner_? The police band's going crazy. They say someone took a shot at him, and now they're saying there's been some kind of explosion within one of the other buildings. I–"

"Your father's fine. The bullet missed," Batman quickly interrupted. Barbara had sounded frantic as her voice had suddenly rang out over his comm unit. He had to reassure her. He liked to tell himself that it was in order to help her keep her focus on the mission, but he was also more human than he liked to admit. "The explosion was the Joker's assassin, the one who killed Hill. I caught her, but the Joker was listening in, and he'd managed to trick her into wearing a bomb."

"So he blew up his own assassin?" Barbara questioned, sounding like she could hardly believe it. "Even for the Joker that's pretty insane! Did she know anything? Did she know something that could have lead us to him? Oh, and thank you. I know it was you that saved the commissioner."

"She didn't even know that it was the Joker paying her," Batman responded, ignoring Barbara's ending comment. Barbara didn't need to thank him for that. No one would ever have to thank him for something like that. He was just doing what he needed to do. He had just saved a good man. "He just killed her out of his twisted sense of humour. So tell me that you've found something on your end. Because if there is any evidence here of where the Joker is or who his next target will be, it's either gone or buried so deep that we'll never find it in time."

"I'm sorry, but I've got nothing yet," Barbara answered, the regret entirely evident in her voice. She knew the stakes, she knew the time constraints. She knew that they were in big, big trouble. "I've hacked into every camera in the city I can get into but there's been no sign of the Joker yet, nor have any flags come up regarding known associates, no matter how wide I cast the net. He's covered his tracks well. I haven't found anything in the recording you sent me either, not even a background sound that might be a giveaway. But Batman, there is one thing that I've noticed. Unless the Joker said anything else before he blew up his assassin, I think that Diana is safe."

Batman fell silent. He had been wanting to ask the question, had been absolutely desperate too, but he had to stay in control. He had to keep his focus. He _had_ to stop the Joker. But now that Barbara had mentioned Diana's name, he also had to know. He had to know if she and the rest had survived. He had to know what was going on up in orbit.

"I still can't reach anyone on the Watchtower," Barbara went on after only a moment of Batman staying quiet. "I can't confirm anything about the toxin alert we had earlier. But other satellites picked up explosions off the Watchtower a few minutes ago, and several craft flying around there. More importantly the Watchtower is still there, and still giving off plenty of a heat signature. People are still alive up there, Batman, and I'm convinced that Wonder Woman is one of them. The Joker made a point of referencing her in that recording he left you. If he'd killed her, there's no way that he wouldn't be gloating. She's still alive. I'm sure of it."

Barbara was making one hell of a point. The Joker had referred to Diana again over Shah's hidden radio, referred to her in the present tense. He had also talked about an explosion, not a toxic attack. All things considered, it suggested that the Joker's attack on the Watchtower had been largely thwarted. Still, there was no way of knowing how much damage had been done beforehand. There was no way of knowing if Dick, Kent, John and the rest of them were still alive.

There was no way of _confirming_ that Diana was still alive.

Once again Batman looked at the carnage down below him in the lift shaft. This whole thing had gone too far. _Way_ too far. The rage was building up inside Batman even more than it normally would, so far that he truly had to fight to keep it under control. This had to stop. No one else could be allowed to die. And what they were currently doing, it was going to take too damn long. They had to get more proactive.

"Batgirl, keep doing what you're doing," Batman quickly instructed, not voicing the thanks that he felt towards her. "Keep trying to track the Joker down."

"And what about you?" Barbara asked. "What will you be doing next, if there's no evidence at Hill's place?"

"The Joker's working this one from underground, keeping himself out of the limelight," Batman answered her, his voice a very deep growl. "Hunting him as the GCPD would isn't going to work. We'll just end up chasing after shadows until everyone is already dead or dying. We need someone who _lives_ underground themselves, who's tight in enough to that world to be able to point us in the direction we need to go, who will have heard things, know things, but who has enough of a conscience tucked away that they'll actually help without needing time consuming coercion. And since she's been back in town for a couple of months now, I know exactly the person who fits the bill."

Batman clicked his comm off as soon as he said that. Barbara was smart enough to figure out who he meant, but he had no desire to discuss it in a committee. He did not want to argue about this and discuss the merits of it, the rights and wrongs. He had decided. There was a chance that this could go nowhere, but there was also a chance that it could reveal everything to him.

Reaching up, he fired his grapnel towards the top of the lift shaft, planning on exiting this building the same way that he had entered it. However, even as he soared upwards as the line reeled in, his mind kept drifting back out to the full breadth of Gotham, certain that the Joker's next victim would not be far behind Hill and Shah. More, his mind drifted back up to the Watchtower, to Dick, to Clark.

To Diana. She _had_ to be safe. He _had_ to save them all.

He could only hope that she would know something. There was no doubts that she would be keeping her ear to the ground, even if she hadn't been active enough to draw the Batman's attention since her return. She was just too embedded in the underworld, in the life of crime these days to ever be truly out of it, and that meant that there was every chance that she might have heard something, that one of her contacts from all those thefts that she had to fleece might know something useful. After all, Shah had mentioned middlemen. _Someone_ must have heard who they were.

And there was every chance that Catwoman might know just who that _someone_ was.


	12. Chapter 11: Round Up

**Chapter 11: Round Up**

Before his eyes and to his horror, the bombs had blown. He had done everything he could, but it hadn't been enough. The Justice League had tried to save their own, but instead their efforts had put people right into the heart of the danger. And now that danger had transformed into death.

With his ring Green Lantern had managed to save four of the Javelins. He had managed to scoop four sets of the bombs clear from the shuttles, launching them harmlessly into the emptiness of space. But that had left two more Javelins, two for which his efforts had failed. Two Javelins from which he had failed to pry the bombs clear.

Two Javelins which had subsequently exploded.

Two explosions that had taken all on board the craft to a fiery grave.

Minutes had passed by but Green Lantern still hadn't moved. The shock and guilt was seeing to that. He was stunned into motionlessness, silence.

Everything that the Justice League did was dangerous. Every single day there was every chance that at least one of them would not be making it through to the next, and every one of them knew that. But still, they had always been lucky. Never before had they experienced loss. They may have taken beatings, been injured, suffered, but they had never died. Until today.

And in their own back yard too.

Green Lantern simply couldn't believe it. And right in the heart of Justice League headquarters too. This simply should _not_ have happened. It _should not_.

And yet it had. People had died, good people. GL had no names. He didn't know which of his friends had been aboard those two, but it was irrelevant. They had _all_ been good people. And now scores of them were gone.

"GL, its Diana," the voice spoke out through his earpiece, snapping him from his reverie. Her voice was full of plenty of grief of her own, but there was also a steel, a true sense of leadership that the League almost certainly needed right then. Green Lantern certainly needed it, for one.

Up until then he had just been staring at where the flames had been, at what was now just particles of remains. At the sound of Wonder Woman's voice, though, he turned back to look towards the Watchtower, seeing the four surviving Javelin's heading back towards it, heading in to land. The fact that the four of them, and all aboard them, were safe was scant consolation though. By all means GL was incredibly glad that all those people had survived, but all that he could think about was the two that had exploded.

"We're gathering up all League personnel on the Watchtower," Wonder Woman expanded. "I want you to join us too. We're going to get to the bottom of this, once for all. We're going to find out who's infiltrated the Watchtower and how, and then we're going to stop them before they can do anything else."

"Right," GL responded, though he was barely able to say the word first time around, the grief still getting to him. It was because of that that he had to try again. "Right. I'm on my way. Let's get this bastard."

* * *

He was still running. He had heard Wondy's rather desperate comm call earlier, but he was still running. His Founder's privilege had meant that he was able to listen in on the call, that he was able to hear when the rest on the Watchtower would be kept oblivious. That, though, was for the best considering, even though it now sounded like the station itself was safe.

Considering that they had all been had. Considering that the real bombs had been aboard the Javelins that they had been evacuating folks onto. Considering a load of those ships had launched, out into space where they couldn't get rid of their fiery menace.

But GL had been on the case. GL, space cop extraordinaire, who did this sort of thing for a living. He could save them.

Flash had to believe that GL _had_ saved them.

He skidded to a halt as he came into the hangar bay. Several folks were still in there, still gathered up around the Javelins, looking in a lot less of a hurry than they had been the last time that Flash was in there. He didn't miss the openings ripped into the tops of the ships where GL had clearly taken out the bombs. He also didn't miss as the four Javelins started landing in the bay again, saved from the chaos that had been meant for them.

The four, and only four. Four, when Flash had seen at least five launch.

Oh no.

It was then that he picked out Diana amongst the crowds. He didn't need to draw in to her side to notice how she was feeling. She was angry, angry and distraught, all at the same time. That was enough to tell Flash everything.

They hadn't been quick enough. At least one of those Javelin's had exploded, Javelins which had been loaded to maximum capacity with people.

Javelins which _they_ had helped to load.

Flash waited before closing the gap. Wondy was on her comm, frantically talking to somebody. Flash let her finish before he acted at all, before he zipped right next to her. He even waited a little longer than that, giving Wondy a moment to breathe. She had taken the lead in this, she had been the one in the know ever since that incident with Bats and the robots, she had been the one trying above all else to save everybody. No one would ever blame her, no one would ever say that this was her fault, no one would believe that, but that wouldn't change anything. She was clearly feeling plenty of guilt along with the anger and grief.

This was not good. In fact, not even the Flash could add some light and joviality to this situation. He didn't much want to.

"Hey, Di," he said, putting a reassuring hand on her shoulder, making her look up at him. Her eyes had dropped in her despair, and now Flash could see the tears that had welled up within them. Even with everything that was going on, he had to stop and talk to her. People looked to him as the heart of the League for a reason, after all. "It wasn't your fault. You did everything you could. More than everything."

Diana looked at him blankly for a second, then there was a flash of something across her eyes. It was a look that said that she was grateful for his efforts, but also displayed how she wasn't prepared to stop and talk about such things, not when there was still a job to do. Her words made that even plainer.

"It's time we settled this, Wally," she said, vast firmness in her tone. As she spoke, her hand started absentmindedly playing with her lasso of truth. "It's time we put an end to whatever's going on up here. It's time we find out who's attacking us and how, and then it'll be time that they face justice for what they've done. Gather up all personnel, in the commissary again. We need to know what's happening. We need to know _who's_ doing this to us. It's the only way we can be sure that it doesn't happen again. We need to know the _truth_."

Flash was quickly nodding. Wondy definitely had a point. They _did_ need to get to the bottom of this. They _did_ need answers. Flash didn't even know half as much about what was going on as Di did, Bats not having let him in on the secret, but he knew that much.

"I'll handle it," he told her reassuringly. "Whoever did this, we'll get them, Di. We'll get them."

He paused for a little while then, keeping that hand on Wonder Woman's shoulder. He could read the situation well enough to know that he needed to keep her spirits as high as they could be, even in these circumstances. He could tell that she was their best hope right now.

But he didn't stay too long. She also needed him to act. She had a task for him, a task that he was best suited to completing. As soon as Wonder Woman gave him the nod, the nod that told him she was not about to break down without him, he ran again.

But as he went, he wished that someone could give him some reassurance, that there was some way to raise his own spirits.

Given the fact that a lot of his friends had just been killed, though, such a way did not exist.

* * *

"I heard what you told the Green Lantern. What's the plan?"

Nightwing was still down in the bowels of the Watchtower, still by the power core, still by that dud of a bomb. The dud that he had failed to spot until it was too late, a fact which had just gotten people killed. A fact which made him feel torn up inside.

But that was a feeling he could not let out. Yet another thing that he had picked up from Bruce. It wasn't something he particularly enjoyed having picked up. As soon as this was done, as soon as he was out of it then he would grieve, then he would let himself mourn for those lost and work through his own guilt about the situation. But that _had_ to wait until the situation was resolved. The mission had to come first, above all else. There were times when Nightwing found himself despising that sentiment – in fact, it was in no small part because of that that he and Bruce had their issues these days – but this was definitely not one of those times. This was a time when he had to stay focused, to keep his head well and truly in the game.

Never before had Nightwing seen the Joker extend his reach this far, this effectively. Yes, the clown had threatened entire cities with nuclear bombs and tried to kill people countless times, too often successfully. This time though, the Joker was showing a plan, a method and a madness that went beyond all that had gone before, and that was only up here on the Watchtower. Nightwing didn't want to stop and think about the chaos he might be unleashing on Gotham right now.

He didn't want to think about the hell that he could have set up for Bruce and for Alfred and for Jim Gordon. And for Babs.

Man, Bruce had better not pick the wrong time to have an off day. They _had_ to stop the Joker. They _had_ to stop the Joker _fast_.

"Expose our enemy," Wonder Woman's voice returned over the comm a moment later, her voice firm, almost emotionless. Almost like Batman, and yet still with plenty of Diana thrown in. Despite all their differences, they really were so alike. "Find the truth. The League is compromised. We need to know who by, how bad, and then how we can put an end to it. We need to bring justice for our brothers and sisters, and then we need to find some way to help Batman by bringing the Joker down. And I'm going to start just as soon as everyone on board is gathered. There's no more time for pretence and investigation, no more time for subtlety. If someone in the Justice League is working with the Joker, then I'm going to find out who. And _why_."

There was great determination in her voice, leaving no doubt that she would do exactly as she said. And with a lasso of truth, she certainly and the means. Provided, that was, that the person who helped the Joker, the person who planted the bombs, hacked the systems and reprogrammed the training droids, was still up here and able to reveal the truth to her. There was still every chance that the real answers would only be found in the systems of the Watchtower, in the bombs and in the droids.

But either way, they would get to the truth. That was why Nightwing had stayed by the power core. He was already at work trying to get the power back on line and, rather poignantly, very carefully making sure there were no other surprises left patched in to any part of the space station. The Joker had done too much damage that way already. He would not get to do so again. It would take time, though, checking everything and then getting all the systems rebooted, never mind subsequently digging up the answers that they needed. Time that they may not have. Hence why Nightwing was rather eager that Wonder Woman's way would work.

"Let me know if you need anything," Nightwing very simply replied to Wonder Woman. Using the comm lines he had overheard her communication with the Green Lantern and made contact with her as soon as he had satisfied himself that the comm button wasn't hooked up to another bomb. "Or if you find anything. I'll do likewise as I work on you 'Tower, getting it working and booby trap free again. That goes for the external comms too. As soon as I hear anything about the situation in Gotham, you'll hear it too."

Nightwing was rather keen to throw in that last part. It was certainly something that he was on his mind, no matter how hard he tried not to think about it. With the systems down there was no way of contacting the outside world, not even Gotham and the Batcave. That meant that, until he had things back online, they _couldn't_ know what was happening down there, how Batman and the rest were doing. Considering Nightwing's own worries about those down there that he cared about, he knew that Wonder Woman would be itching for news.

Damn, Bruce had _really_ better not pick the wrong time for an off day. No matter what they found up here, the best weapon in ever stopping the Joker was the Batman. Just so long as the Batman could survive himself.

"Thank you," Wonder Woman returned, the compassion coming back to her tone in full. The thought of Bruce had brought a trace of worry to it too, a nervous edge. No wonder Diana was speaking more coldly than normal. She was still feeling plenty of compassion for those lost, she was just trying to hold herself together, as they all were.

Only she knew more. She knew more about what was happening. She knew more about the dangers.

And she, just like Nightwing, was sure that Batman was, ultimately and as always, the Joker's primary target.

"I need to go," Wonder Woman added after a brief moment were silence had fallen on the line, both of their thoughts having drifted elsewhere. "Flash won't take long to get everyone assembled. Good luck once again, Nightwing."

"Good luck to you too, Diana," Nightwing returned the sentiment before the line was closed. Still, when the comm was off he couldn't stop himself muttering a few more words. "Especially since, after what's just happened, we may well need every bit of it that we can get."

* * *

Several minutes had passed by, more than enough time for Wally and GL to have spread the message. From where she stood, Wonder Woman could see the last stragglers starting to enter the commissary. She was running through what she was going to say in her mind already, even though it was what the others were going to say that was more important. Still, Wonder Woman, even in her grief and anger, couldn't abandon her compassion completely. She couldn't ignore her teammates feelings entirely.

"So you gonna tell us what's going on before we descend on the rest, then?"

It was Shayera. She had just flown in down the corridor, though she had landed at Diana's side instead of going into the commissary. Wonder Woman had fully intended on confronting everyone together. After what had happened, after losing too many of their own to the Joker's ally, Diana wasn't ruling anyone out any more as to who that ally was. Bruce had explained before several ways that could explain how even the League's most trusted members could be the person they were looking for. Diana had cast those explanations aside back then. No longer.

"Sorry, Wondy, I couldn't hold her back," Flash commented out of nowhere as he zoomed past. However, unlike Shayera, he kept on going to the commissary. "See you in there. I'll play as your warm up act."

"I couldn't stop her either," Green Lantern said as he joined the party, though he landed beside Shayera. "People will be wanting answers, Diana. I know I'm sure hoping you can give us some when we get in there. The latest headcount says that Wildcat, Speedy and practically all of our medical staff are among the dead, and that's just half of it."

"Too right people will be wanting answers," Shayera growled, hand clutching onto her mace. The Thanagarian was certainly angry. Wonder Woman knew that it wasn't anger at her, she just happened to be the one bearing the brunt of it. With the guilty party unknown, it seemed Shayera had to vent at _someone_. "Di, everyone knows that you were already on this before the bomb scare even started. Everyone knows that Batman kept you in the loop. What _is_ going on? What just got our people killed?"

Wonder Woman wanted to say, she dearly did. But she couldn't. Having to say it once was a thought that was vulgar enough. She did not want to do so twice. Still, Shayera's words were not without power. People had been killed, members of the Justice League had suffered. All her life Diana had fought to put an end to war and battle, but now it had struck at those she lived and worked beside. It was enough to get any of them riled up, but perhaps even worse than thoughts of the individual losses were the thoughts of what was left behind. Thoughts of the broken families, of the parents who had lost a child, the children who had lost a parent, the men and women who had lost their love. Considering the full situation, considering how the Joker was doing all of this to get to Bruce, that last part _definitely_ plagued Diana's mind. Bruce was still down there, in the midst of Gotham and the Joker's centre of chaos and, if the Joker could manage to strike at the Watchtower, there were no guarantees that Bruce would be safe. Especially as, for the greater good, she couldn't charge in to help him. No, Wonder Woman certainly understood Shayera's feelings. That was why she decided not to leave people waiting any longer.

"Come on," Wonder Woman softly instructed instead of giving a direct answer, setting off towards the commissary doors. She didn't look back to Shayera or GL, but knew that they were soon behind her. In no time, the three of them had emerged into what was usually a relaxed, almost jovial place. Right then, it was quite the opposite. A deathly silence befell everyone at the sight of Wonder Woman's arrival, every single pair of eyes coming up to look at her expectantly. Diana halted in the doorway, GL and Shayera slipping around her to join the group as the remnants of the doors she had smashed open only minutes ago closed shut behind her.

Wonder Woman's eyes were immediately scanning the room, instantly picking out the blur as Flash darted from the front to join the rest of the crowd. Even he was silent, not a single sound penetrating the room. It really was sombre, the looks that Diana was seeing on people's faces matching that mood. She took them all in, one by one, studying the eyes of the people. They were all people she knew and knew well.

And one of them could well be a traitor.

Superman was at the front of the crowd, but he was stood on his own and off to one side rather than as the figurehead he so usually was. He was certainly taking the news hard, Wonder Woman knew him well enough to know that much for sure. He looked stunned, practically catatonic. No wonder. Bruce was known to call him a boy scout. He was showing why now. He was showing just how much each and every loss affected him, saddened him, and this was more than one loss. On top of that, it certainly wasn't helpful that there was no apparent enemy for him to engage, no way for him to know who should face justice.

Flash was stood closest to Superman now, looking like he was having to fight to stand still. Beside him, Doctor Eisenhower, practically the only Justice League medic to survive the bombings, was looking busy. No one still on board the Watchtower was badly hurt. In the panic of the bombs plenty of people had suffered trips and falls and there were several impact injuries, cuts and bruises. "Iceberg" was hard at work treating them all, though, despite the fact most of his patients wouldn't actually need treating. It seemed he just needed something to keep his mind occupied.

Stargirl was also at the front, STRIPE stood right by her, comforting her. She had been there in the Javelin Bay when Wonder Woman and Green Lantern had discovered the bombs. More than that, she had been about to pilot one of those shuttles that had been a death trap for too many good people. It seemed that Stargirl was now being lost to thoughts of what might have happened, how things would have played out if Diana hadn't found the bomb and stopped her from launching. Being in the nearest shuttle to the Watchtower, there was every chance that Green Lantern would have saved her regardless. Still, the question of "what if" was one that was too present on her mind. It had left her shell shocked, with her step father standing right there to try and help her through it.

There were many other sets of eyes in there, but Diana's eyes finally came to rest on Black Canary and Green Arrow. Of all of them on the Watchtower, it was those two who had the most reasons to grieve. Wildcat and Speedy had been close to each of them respectively, very close. News of their deaths was inevitably nigh on impossible for Canary and Arrow to hear. It was the kind of news, the kind of grief that a person should not be forced to endure on their own. The fact that they were paradoxically going through the same thing and separate things all at once made things worse. The two were close, meaning that they were each the one person best suited to helping the other out. And yet that meant that while they both had each other, they were at the same time both so alone. Of the two of them, Black Canary seemed to be acting the stronger. One of them had to be tough. One of them had to be the rock, unbreakable, holding it all together so that the other had a safety net for when they fell apart. It was a time when they both needed the safety net, but Canary was sacrificing her own need to grieve for the sake of Green Arrow, for him to grieve the loss of his former partner. Now that was love well displayed. Others were certainly noticing the pair of them too. Nearby, Shining Knight seemed desperate to step in and try to help the pair, but Vigilante was silently keeping him back. The two needed a rock, but they were both the kind of person who needed to embrace that rock for themselves. They were both like scissors. Having a rock thrust on them would be blunt in its efficiency.

Hera, Diana dearly prayed that no one else would have to experience that kind of pain before the day was out. She included herself in that. She included Bruce in it too.

And the best way to start on the road to making that prayer reality was to find the person responsible for all the damage done on the Watchtower. She had to find the traitor and she had to do so now. However, as her eyes quickly scanned back across the lineup of her friends and allies, Wonder Woman could not help but think once again about how it could be any one of them. That was a scary thought in itself. What was more scary was that whoever it was behind this had managed to get so heavily embedded into the Justice League that they managed to set all the bombs and traps without even a hint of suspicion befalling them.

Yes. She had to find the traitor, _very_ fast.

"Brothers and sisters, I'm afraid I have to confirm that the unthinkable has happened," Wonder Woman finally began to say, with very carefully considered words, speaking as the leader that she was born to be. "The Watchtower has been attacked, and some of our own have been killed. They shall be missed, and we shall mourn for them greatly. Their memories will be precious to us all until the end of our days and shall never be forgotten. But for now, we must focus on ensuring that the likes of Wildcat are the only ones that we mourn today. We must focus on saving other lives. That is why I asked Flash to bring you all back here. We need to catch the person responsible.

"I don't know when it happened, but the Watchtower has been compromised, vastly. Our training droids were reprogrammed, our computer systems hijacked and, most damagingly of all, bombs were planted on the Javelins and the Watchtower itself. But we know who is ultimately responsible. When the Watchtower was locked down before we found the bombs, Batman and I together discovered a message left in the training droids that we had earlier disabled, that had been our first clue that we were under attack. It was a message from the person who has orchestrated all of this.

"It was a message from the Joker. He's the one behind this. Behind more than just this. He's going after Gotham City too. Batman has returned to his city to try to hunt the Joker down, leaving myself and Nightwing to pursue the assault on the Justice League. We had just begun that process when we found the first bomb. The chaos that followed has interrupted our search, not least of all because the computer systems are still down from damage the Joker has caused. That means that we lost our main means for finding answers. With it impossible that the clown has been on this station himself, it means that we have to pursue other avenues to find out who it was the Joker used to plant the bombs and corrupt our systems.

"Which is why I asked Flash to bring you here. Everything has been too well executed, too _easily_ executed. No outsider would have been able to enter the Watchtower and put all their sabotage in place as completely undetected as has actually happened. Not unless they had help. Or the saboteur had access to the Watchtower in the first place."

"Are you saying that one of _us_ did this?" Green Arrow burst out with barely a breath after Wonder Woman had ceased talking. It was clearly something that every last one of them, even the older, more experienced ones, were thinking. Every one of them was looking even more shocked than before. Quite a number of them even looked angry. Green Arrow was chief among those. Whether it was at the suggestion or at the possibility of the betrayal, his grief meant that what Wonder Woman had just revealed was even harder for him to hear. Black Canary, still clutching onto his shoulder, wasn't exactly looking too pleased herself, though she was managing to hold her tongue. She was one of the very few out there who was actually able to say that, though. Soon after Green Arrow had erupted, over half those in the room were following suit.

" _Who_?"

"Who did this?!"

"Are you _crazy_?"

"Well it's not _me_!"

"Are you sure? Are you _sure_?"

"Why? Why can't it be outsiders? That _Task Force X_ group got on before! Who says it can't have happened again?"

"What if it's someone on the surface? Not all with access are up here!"

" _Who_ I said! Who did this?!"

"How do we know it wasn't _you_?"

"So what do we _do_ about it? How do we find the spy?"

That was just a taste of what was being thrown up by people, just the words that Wonder Woman was able to easily pick out amongst the ruckus. It went on for a good minute before Wonder Woman held both hands up to silence everybody. That last question that she had heard was one that she could answer.

"We find out using the truth," Wonder Woman firmly stated, putting both force and understanding into her tone. As she spoke one of her hands fell to her hip. The next second, it rose again, firmly clutching her lasso. "It's the only way to prove once and for all whether the conspirator is among us or not. As no one bound by the lasso can lie in any form, we'll know if the conspirator is here, even if for some reason they are not consciously aware themselves of what they have done. And, if they are here, we'll find out _who_ they are. One way or another, right here, we find the truth."

Once again the noise arose at that. Even the most noble of souls can be shook up and forget their selflessness at times. After what had happened, for some this was one of those times. People were protesting, making noises like they were offended at the mere suggestion of having the lasso used on them, while others were speaking up to argue in favour of the idea. In truth, Wonder Woman didn't like the idea of having to use her lasso on these people. People deserved their secrets when those secrets weren't dangerous, and she wasn't one to needlessly invade privacy. It may not sound like much, but it was an important ideal to her and to many of them, that it was one of those things that should be protected in an advancing world. But right now the truth did need to out. She would just have to be careful in terms of how she asked the questions.

However, this time Wonder Woman never got the chance to break the babble. Someone else beat her to it.

"Fine! I'll go first!"

It was an announcement that stunned everybody again, an announcement that took away the need to argue. Everyone was too busy looking up to see who it was that had spoken, who had volunteered to go under the lasso's power. People would especially want to know since volunteering in itself was no guarantee of innocence, not with all the possibilities of mind control and the like. Hence the shock at hearing Black Canary so openly put herself forwards.

It was probably her own grief-lead reaction to all of this, just as Ollie's earlier outburst had been his. Regardless, even Green Arrow watched on silently as Dinah stepped forward, one arm held out in front of her, ready and waiting for the lasso to be wrapped around it. For a long moment Wonder Woman stared at Dinah, trying to both judge whether she knew what she was doing and trying to give some reassurance as to her responsibility. Still, that only lasted as long as it took for Dinah to arrive right in front of Wonder Woman. The next moment, with Canary nodding confirmation, Wonder Woman slipped the tightened noose of the lasso around the other woman's wrist.

"Are you, in any way, working with the Joker to cause harm to the Justice League and the people of Gotham?" Diana asked the question, slowly and clearly. Dinah definitely heard it, not hesitating before giving her truthful answer.

"No. The person you're looking for, it isn't me. But I hope to high heavens that I'm here when you find them."

That was enough for Wonder Woman. She had heard enough to believe absolutely that Black Canary was not the one she was looking for. With a nod she slid the lasso off of Dinah's wrist again, before looking back up to the rest of the crowd.

"Next?"

Free again, Black Canary stepped out of the way, moving to stand behind Diana as if to separate those cleared from those still to be questioned. Green Arrow said nothing as he sauntered up to be interrogated next, practically drunk with emotion, the rest of the group silently watching him go as they remained stunned that it had come to this. Green Arrow, though, was clearly following Canary's lead, even if only so they weren't separated anymore. He too held out his hand, with Wonder Woman once again slipping the lasso around his arm.

"Are you, in any way, working with the Joker to cause harm to the Justice League and the people of Gotham?" she repeated the exact same question, not wanting to distort the test with different wording. As with Black Canary, Green Arrow wasn't slow to answer, even if his voice was cracking slightly as he spoke.

"Not even slightly."

That was all Green Arrow said, but once again it was enough. Once again Diana nodded confirmation that she was satisfied and Green Arrow moved back to stand with Black Canary. Before Wonder Woman could even call for another Leaguer, though, Flash appeared in front of her in a blur of red.

"Me next," Wally declared. "I've learned not to like people messing in my head, but best to get this out of the way. I got nothing to hide."

With no order required, Wonder Woman had no reason to argue. Again placing the lasso around him and asking the same question, Flash was able to truthfully give the same answer as Green Arrow and Black Canary. Looking almost relieved that there wasn't a supervillain messing with his brain again, Flash too stood behind Diana in the 'innocent area'. Soon others were following on from that lead. A still angry Shayera was the first among them, Diana relieved that her friend also showed no signs of being the traitor. GL was the same. That was all good news. Wonder Woman hated suspecting her friends. Of course there was always the downside. There were still plenty of people in the commissary to get through, but she still didn't have the answer.

"What about that varmint?" Vigilante suddenly called out when Green Lantern stepped back, clearly thinking along similar lines and sounding rather desperate. Looking up, Wonder Woman saw he was pointing at "Iceberg" Eisenhower. The doctor stood up straight at the accusation, staring between Vigilante and Wonder Woman with an almost mad look in his eyes. That said, his sparkling bedside manner meant he was hardly known for looking any other way. "Bit odd that he stayed behind, methinks, 'specially when all of our other docs and nurses dashed off with their patients. A guy might start to think there was one of them there ulterior motives behind that…"

"The same could be said of you based on that outburst, so I expect you to join in the queue right behind me," Iceberg snapped back in return, before he became the latest one to step forward and face the lasso. Wonder Woman asked the same question as before. However, despite what Vigilante had said she got the same answer as from the rest. He looked smug as he went, practically gesturing Vigilante to step forward and face the music himself. Tipping back his hat, Vigilante moved out of the group to do exactly that. It meant Iceberg lost a lot of that smugness, as Vigilante was cleared too.

"Next?" Diana called out once more when there was no immediate volunteer after the modern day cowboy. It seemed people, the civilians even more so than the Leaguers, were starting to play it based on the odds. If the traitor was indeed in the room, the chances that it was one of them were getting ever higher. That thought, the thought that they might find out at truth about themselves that had been hidden, or worse, the thought of a known truth becoming public, was keeping them all right where they were.

"Come on Supes, big guy!" Flash called out from behind Wonder Woman when still no one stepped forward. "Round out the Founders. Show them that we're all in this together!"

Flash's shout made Wonder Woman look across to Superman. She had practically ignored him for the majority of all of this. Of all of the others, he was the one she felt most certain was on the right side. However, looking at him now she suddenly got the impression that there might actually be something wrong. Superman was _sweating_. There could be plenty of reasons behind that of course, especially after all the effort he would have put in during the detrimental evacuation. Still, it was just so… _unusual_. Nevertheless, Superman was still casting Wonder Woman's doubts completely aside again.

"Good point, Flash," the big Kryptonian agreed with the Scarlet Speedster, taking his turn to step forward. He held out both hands, as he would if Diana had handcuffs instead of a lasso. It was likely his way of signal his complete co-operation, his way of signalling to the rest that, if they were innocent, they had nothing to worry about. "Test away, Diana."

It was an action perfectly becoming of Superman, just as Wonder Woman was expecting and hoping to see. It was when Wonder Woman got the lasso around those wrists that things ventured from the norm. It was then that things definitely took an unexpected, unwanted turn.

Wonder Woman took one noticeable step backwards out of reflex when it began. The scream was the first sign, a scream that was still in Superman's voice. But in the next seconds, it became apparent that it was _not_ Superman standing there. The blue uniform began to change first, then that famous cowlick hairline vanished _into_ his screaming head. Soon there was nothing of Superman left before Wonder Woman's eyes, the trademark "S" shield being the last thing to go. The lasso exposed truth's in all its forms. It had just done exactly that. It had just shown the truth that the thing with Clark's face wasn't actually Clark.

It was a giant glob of mud, mud with a face, mud that had stopped screaming now that the lasso was no longer burning him, what with the truth ousted already.

"Damn. And there I thought that I might be able to act my way out of even that one."

It was Wonder Woman's turn to be stunned silent. She had found the person who was responsible, the person who had planted the bombs.

The mud had a face.

The mud was talking.

Wonder Woman had seen _this_ mud before.

The mud was Clayface.

* * *

 _ **A/N:**_

 _ **For my friend, Lotsy.**_


	13. Chapter 12: Here Kitty, Kitty

_**Once again, this one's here for Lotsy.**_

* * *

 **Chapter 12: Here Kitty, Kitty**

 ** _One Hour Ago_**

"Come on, get a move on, damn it! You wanna get caught? _Run_!"

"I _am_ running!" the second crook called back. He was trying at least, but men of his size did not run well. It wouldn't have been a problem if the damn fool hadn't gone and tripped one of the alarms on their way to the next batch of loot. They'd had the whole thing planned out perfectly, but hearing those warning bells ringing had sent all of that to pot. No doubt the cops were already well on their way. All the rest of their prospective stash was going to have to stay put. He was _not_ going back to jail.

"Run faster then, you schmuck, or you ain't getting your cut!" the first criminal spouted, surging on ahead of his fatter ally. It wasn't even like the old fatso was carrying the loot. He had that, more carats of it than most Gothamites could count to. One hell of a shiny gemstone, that would be worth one hell of a lot out on the open market. Which was right where the two of them were going to be putting it now that they had snatched it from out of the depository.

Just as soon as they made sure that they got clear from the police.

Gotham was never quiet at night. Sirens raging was normal practise. Seeing obvious criminals running was not uncommon. In fact, it was so common that people rarely even looked out of their windows to see what was going on these days. That meant no one was watching the two of them go, despite their lack of quiet and tact. Neither crook was caring about being quiet. They both knew what the deal was. Get far enough away from the scene and the cops around here would never catch them. No one would tell them where to look.

The only wildcard, the only possible downer, was the freaking Bat. But that was why they had planned their move for that night. They had heard the rumours, the rumours that had circulated the Gotham underworld. The rumours that said tonight was going to be a very busy night for that damned rodent man.

"Come on, this way!" the first crook called out again, darting down an alley. They had abandoned their ride when they fled the scene. It was well scrubbed and recently stolen. It wouldn't lead anyone back to them, but they hadn't dared risk returning to it. Oddly enough they had both felt that running on foot was the safest getaway. Fleeing through the back door was much more likely to dodge any cop who unfortunately happened to be in the area when the alarms went off.

"I'm coming, Petey, I'm coming!" the second crook wheezed, showing that he was still behind the first, Petey. "Just don't leave me to face the music alo–!"

The second crook broke off, panting for breath before going totally silent. Other than for the swift thud, that was. Petey got worried. This guy made a lot of mistakes, he was hardly the most useful, but he and Petey had been together since they had been kids, best pals for life. Even heartless crooks didn't forget stuff like that.

Which was why Petey quickly looked behind him, instantly worried that his friend had tried to run too fast and had just had a heart attack. What he saw was something else though. His ally was indeed down and out for the count, but it wasn't a heart attack. It was a different kind of _attack_.

There was a woman there, a woman dressed in all grey and black, stood on top of the second crook's back, clearly having just taken him out. And from the look on her face, she was damned pleased with herself for it.

Petey reacted fast, but the woman was faster. Too fast for him. The bola struck him before he could strike back, wrapping around his neck so the heavy ends both struck him hard around the head. He was still standing, but he was dazed, badly. Badly enough to give the woman all the opening that she needed. She pounced on him, using her weight to knock him down to the ground too. Then she grabbed his head, slamming it back down into the concrete.

He felt consciousness leaving him straight away, but he managed to hold onto it just long enough to feel as that gem slipped out through his fingers.

The robbers had just been robbed.

* * *

 ** _Now_**

"Sources are now confirming initial reports that we brought to you here on WGOB news earlier tonight. Hamilton Hill, who served as Gotham City's mayor for numerous, troubled years, is dead. We're hearing that he was shot while in his new high-rise apartment home by an as yet unnamed assassin. Police are yet to officially comment on the matter, though Commissioner James Gordon himself has been spotted at the scene. Albeit it he has rejected our request for an interview until the investigation is more advanced. Rumours are already abounding as to who the assassin might have been, along with what possible motivation could have caused it. On top of that, some witnesses who were in the area at the time are even claiming that the Batman was spotted entering and leaving the building. We'll discuss this news more with our WGOB experts within the next hour.

"In other news, confirmation is also being sought on another rumour that has been circulating in the past minutes. As reported in our headlines, several explosions were witnessed in the sky by those with telescopic devices, explosions that appear to have been in the vicinity of the Justice League's Watchtower. We have been unable to establish contact with the League, but we should stress..."

She hit the button to mute the television, having already heard more than enough of that. The news was far too depressing these days. _All_ days. The only reason that she had put it on in the first place was to keep Isis company while she hopped in the shower, cleaning up after her night on the town. Now that was no longer an issue.

Wrapping the silk dressing gown tight around her figure, Selina Kyle sat at the edge of the bed of the rather luxurious apartment she was renting these days. Isis, her feline companion for so long, quickly crawled up next to her, purring as Selina stretched a hand out to scratch behind one of the cat's ears. Her other hand, though, had gone elsewhere. Her Catwoman outfit was left strewn out on the bed, just where she had tossed it when she had peeled out of the getup upon sneaking back in here via the window. More important right now, however, was what lay on top of the outfit, similarly left there. It sure was a nice gem. Certainly one worth getting back into the squalors of the Gotham game for.

"I don't think we're going to be going hungry tonight, Isis," Selina muttered as she stared down at the gemstone, seeing her green eyes perfectly reflecting back up at her from its surface. Isis purred again, turning her own head to look at the sparkling gemstone. Oh yes. It was definitely a prize that was worth it all. Things like it were just too pretty for her _not_ to take ownership of. She truly was the cat who got the cream.

Even if it was something that she was constantly swearing that she would never do again. Time makes things change in a person's life, alters their priorities, their needs and their desires. Selina had certainly experienced some of those changes in her own time. Well, not so much experienced them as _felt_ them. Something must have happened, because she just woke up one morning and felt different. It was sudden, unexpected, _unwelcome_ in a lot of ways, but it was there. She couldn't put her finger on exactly what it was though.

She _was_ starting to feel older. That could have been the root source. No matter how much she didn't like to admit it, no matter how much he refused to let it affect her, there were only so many years in a girl's life. Having nine lives didn't help, what with them all aging at the same rate. She wasn't foolish, she knew that she was still a relatively young woman, but that didn't mean that she wasn't aware. And it definitely didn't mean that she wasn't aware of all the things that were missing from her life, things which she had been fine to go without before, but now… Now something had changed.

She had been on the road for quite some time. After that affair with the cat cult, she had disappeared off to Paris with a boatload of ill-gotten gains, and had simply decided to stay out there. Gotham had begun to lose its edge to her, even if it was her home. That was probably the starting point of the change, actually, a starting point that she had absentmindedly jumped on. Paris had just been the start. She had quickly moved on to Milan, to Rome, to Barcelona, to London, to Marseille, to Monaco. All of Europe had become her playground, and boy had she played. Months even started ticking into years.

But those years had started becoming increasingly flat. Selina Kyle hadn't been the only one making appearances in those cities. She had let the Cat out of the bag too. Her fortunes had certainly been added to aplenty, helped no end by the fact that she no longer had the Bat on her ass to stop her. But maybe that had been the problem. Stealing, thieving, enjoying the endless spoils, it was really starting to lose its edge. It was becoming something that she _had_ to do, rather than something that she did for fun. There had even been times where she had tried to go for months on end without even shoplifting, but she just couldn't keep it up. Thievery was the one thing that truly defined her, and Selina Kyle certainly liked who she was, regardless of the change. Instead, she had started taking bigger and bigger risks, but it just wasn't the same. She just couldn't get that spark back, the spark of the old days, when Gotham was her oyster and the Bat was always hot on her tail.

Perhaps it was loneliness. She hadn't lived in the elite social circles for a while now, but Selina had always held on to company. She had never felt alone before except when she wanted to be. Now, there were just times that Isis alone didn't feel like a companion enough.

Or perhaps it was something else. Perhaps she just needed more. Perhaps she just needed to find more of a purpose for herself, to go beyond the thefts. Perhaps it was time that she _became_ something more. She had been a crusader once, fighting for a cause instead of a batch of jewels. Perhaps it was that that she missed. Perhaps the time had come for her to find something else to believe in, something else that she truly cared for. Something that she would feel was worth fighting for.

Either way, the solution was the same. That was why, after so long on the road, the Catwoman had returned to Gotham city.

She had only been back for around a week. About enough time for her to start settling back in to the city and her new, fancy, yet modest, apartment. Isis too. They had both come back to their roots. If the old passions could be reignited, she would need to be here to see it done. If she was going to find a new purpose, it was going to be here that she would do it. She just had to get on with deciding exactly which passions she wanted to relight, and what purpose she wanted to uncover. She knew that it had to be Gotham, and she knew that she would never stop being Catwoman, but more than that she had yet to work out. That was what the next weeks were for. That and topping up her private jewel collection after one hell of a party to celebrate the end of her time in Europe.

Which, of course, lead to something that always came back to her mind when in this city. The Batman. It was impossible these days for anyone to think about Gotham without thinking of its protector extraordinaire. Selina was certainly no different. Or perhaps she was, since she had even more reason to think about him than most. She was technically a member of his infamous rogues gallery after all. It was only smart to be aware of the vigilante who might well end up coming after her, ready to send her to jail. Of course, that wasn't the only reason that she ever thought about him. Even at her most free spirited and independent, there had always been a lure to Selina in that cape and cowl.

It had started right from their first encounter, when Batman had tried to stop her stealing a bejewelled neckless and in the subsequent pursuit saved Isis' life. She had been attracted to him that night all right, particularly his lion-like eyes, once moping that she was disappointed to be dating Bruce Wayne instead of the Batman. The feeling had only intensified when Batman had saved her own life just a day or two later. It was a feeling that never went away, and one that she had always been able to tell the Batman shared. It was a feeling they had played with, teased around, a feeling that ran deep within them both. There had always been just that one problem.

The law. For Batman, the law was everything, even more important than how he felt about Selina. For her, she just couldn't stick to playing it straight. It was just too much like hacking off half her body – the thefts were too much a part of who she was for her to be able to let it go. And so those feelings had gone unacted upon, left to wistful thoughts of what might have been as the two of them increasingly accepted that the other was not about to change, subsequently drifting apart.

But even then, the feelings, the attraction, that all remained. Selina never truly forgot that. It was hard enough to do so at the best of times, but even more so as Batman's prestige grew all the more upon the dawning of the Justice League. Selina had followed his adventures with that superhero troop during her European stint. Hardly a day went by when that band wasn't in the news. While other, flashier heroes may have always taken the headlines, Selina had so often been able to spot the Batman's hand at play, pulling the strings from the secrecy of the shadows. Just how he would have always liked it. There were times, though, that even Batman couldn't shy away from the publicity. One time in particular sprang to mind, that recent time, that time where they had been fighting a cloud of alien telepathic energy. The time when the whole world had seen the image of Batman and the supposed Wonder Woman locked in a very passionate kiss. Of course Batman had seen to it that the whole world believed there was nothing to it, but Selina knew different. She had _experienced_ one of those kisses from him after all. She knew all the signs. She knew how to recognise passions in the man who liked to pretend he was so emotionally cold.

And, in that kiss, she had seen _all_ of the signs.

If she was being totally honest, Selina would admit that it was around the time that she saw that kiss that she first started to feel the desire to come back to Gotham. She had been feeling the change within her already, but it was seeing Batman with that Amazon that inspired Selina into action. It was seeing that moment that had made her stop running and to start looking for that new purpose, to start trying to find the future that she wanted. Perhaps even to find a family again after so long alone.

And so now here she was, back in Gotham city. Back in the home of the Batman…

Although, that said, it was probably a good job that he wasn't there with her in that moment. The glint of the gem on her suit caught her eye once again. The grey of her suit – a return to her original Catwoman outfit, which just seemed apt under the circumstances, along with her return to being a blonde – was a stark contrast against the almost effervescent glow of the gem from the light of the room shining through it. Just looking at the stone brought a grin to Selina's face. Oh yes. No matter what she decided to do with her life, gems like that one were certainly going to play a part in it. There was no way she was ready to give that up, no matter how much else things had changed.

Her first week back was proof enough of that. Barely had she even landed than the Catwoman was getting back in the game. Softly of course. She was careful to take baby steps, to stick to the shadows, to not give the Batman a reason to throw her in jail straight away, since he would no doubt be aware that Selina Kyle was back in town. He knew far too much. So Selina had played it smart. She had put one ear to the ground. Or more accurately, to the underground, deep, deep down. The Gotham underworld was a very dark, very deep rooted place, so much so that even the legendary Batman was yet to break it. It was there, amongst the underworld, that Catwoman had heard the rumours circulating, all manner of them. Rumours that she had taken great care to listen to and take on board, searching for and using her experience of grey morality to pick out exactly the one that she was after. Sure enough, she had found it. Overhearing two people discussing their plans, Catwoman had learned all about the plot to rob the very gem that she now had in her possession. It had been so easy to set up, so easy to take the two would be thieves as they had try to run from the police sirens. And best of all, there was nothing at the scene of the crime to place this on her, nothing to send the Bat coming after her. She had stolen the gem, and she had her tracks covered all at the same time. It had been a perfect reintroduction to Gotham, one that was completely Bat free. No doubt she would see him again soon, in fact she was rather looking forward to it. Just not tonight. Getting off scot-free was enough for her now, especially with that gem now hers to purr over.

Only maybe she hadn't gotten away with it as much as she had first thought. It was in that moment, just as she had that thought, that she felt a draft. A gentle breeze, a slight gust of wind coming in through the window. Only she hadn't left any of them open. That may be a regular way for her to enter her home, but she had been careful to shut them tonight. However, there was someone else that she knew who was prone to sneaking into buildings that way…

It was safe to say that she was surprised. It was even safer to say that she was feeling worried, worried that he was going to try and lock her away just as she had arrived, even if she kept that worry from showing. However, she also suddenly felt her mood turn playful all over again. So much so that she said the words before even turning around, taking an extra second to drink in the view of that gem.

"Why hello Batman, darling. Long-time no speak."

* * *

Selina Kyle, the Catwoman, was back in Gotham. And there she was, sitting right in front of him, looking just as she had the first day that he had set eyes on her. Of course, a lot had happened since then, and not just between the two of them.

And there had been a lot that _could_ have happened if things had been different, if only she had been able to give up the crime. But then again, the way things had turned out, Batman could not complain. Even if he did still care for Selina deeply, he wouldn't change how things had gone since those days, not for the world.

"You need to tell me what's going on," Batman growled out by way of a greeting.

It hadn't escaped his considerable notice that one Selina Kyle had booked a flight back into Gotham, nor that she had bought herself a new place within the city. Catwoman had returned home. _That_ was worth paying attention to. That was why Batman had instructed Barbara to keep tabs on what the feline thief was up to since her return. That was why he knew that she had immediately started learning all the latest about what was happening in Gotham's underworld, making use of her already established connections in that area to do so. Connections different to Batman's own, all of which lay silent right now. That was why Selina ought to be able to help them. If there was anyone who would have heard something, _anything_ about what the Joker was up to that night, anyone who had and could then be convinced to stand up and do the right thing, it was her. Catwoman may have been completely incapable of giving up crime, but that didn't meant that she was a bad person. Batman had seen enough of her to know that. He knew that, deep down, there was a damn lot of good in her.

Tonight just happened to be another one of those nights when he had to make her know that too.

"Is that really the way to say hi to an old friend after so long?" Selina purred, standing up from the bed and moving over towards him. Batman held his ground as she moved, despite the old feelings lingering in his gut, particularly when she wound up so close that he could practically feel her breath on his chin. More than most people, Batman knew just how hard it was to forget the past, even if he had found a new future.

"Easy now, Batman," a voice suddenly rang out in his ear. Barbara's voice. He had paused, knocked ever so slightly back by Selina. Only slightly, but it was uncharacteristic of him. Batgirl noticed it immediately, clearly listening in from the cave. It may have been for her to hear whatever Batman found, or it may have been for moments exactly like this one. "Don't forget, you have a _girlfriend_ now. A very _good_ one."

"It has to be," Batman answered, directing his answer very firmly onto Selina, even going so far as to switch off the comm in his ear so that Batgirl could no longer listen in. He could handle this conversation alone. He _would_ handle this conversation alone. "Catwoman, I don't have time for games. Nobody does. I know you wasted no time in re-establishing your ties in the underworld. You need to tell me if you've heard anything about what's going on today. Now."

Catwoman sighed, turning away from him for a moment. She clearly didn't like the fact he wasn't willing to play. "And what might that be? What's happening tonight?"

"The Joker," Batman growled, very simply. Catwoman spun back to face him at just that name. Even as a supposed super-criminal herself, she knew danger in it. "He's already killed at least three. He's threatened to kill a whole lot more. Perhaps even the entire city. He has mercenaries running riot, bombs lining the city. I've no idea how many, but it's not going to be a small number. This plan of his is big. He's said so much himself when he placed a recording into the computers of the Watchtower, saying I had to come and face him, alone. No other heroes, otherwise he'd blow up the city. I need to find him. Now. I need to stop him. So I need you to tell me whatever it is that you may have heard that can help me. After all, for all we know, Selina Kyle might be one of his next targets."

"So you do know how to play the game after all?" Selina muttered, stepping back towards him all over again. Oddly enough, that almost flirtatious smile had come back to her as she stared up at him. Batman kept his jaw set firm. "Alright. I might have heard something. Nothing direct, though. I think you know me well enough to know that killing's not my style. Hell, I didn't even know that the crazy clown was out of the Asylum. But you say he might have a gaggle of mercenaries helping him out? _That_ might be something I can help you with."

"Go on." Selina had broken off for a moment, looking almost ready to move away as her cat purred. Perhaps it wanted feeding, perhaps it just wasn't a fan of him being there. It was irrelevant though. Catwoman had to keep talking. Batman reminded her of that.

"What I heard was sketchy at best," Selina resumed, once again turning back to Batman. She was actually talking serious, sounding oddly and suddenly like she was genuinely ready to fight the good fight. It was…refreshing. "But it might be exactly what you're after. An intermediary had put the word out, word that had spread among the lowlifes. Someone was looking for mercenaries, as many and as handy as they could get. _But_ , it wasn't exactly what I was listening out for, _and_ I thought that you could handle it if it was anything big, so I ignored it. And now here you are, stood in my bedroom…"

"A name, Selina," Batman pressed, for himself as much as to get her to give him the key part of the puzzle. "Who was the intermediary? How do I find them?"

"Oh no, I don't give that out without getting at least something in return," Selina countered. That smile was back, even more playful than before. That made Batman instantly nervous. "You want me to give up something I know. Well you can do the same for me."

"And what is it that you want me to tell you?" Batman growled, showing his displeasure.

Selina actually laughed before she spoke. "Oh, Batman, always so paranoid, _so inflexible_. Makes me wonder how you ever let it happen, especially since it always got in the way of _us_. So tell me. Admit it to me. _Are_ you and Wonder Woman an item?

"Do you love her?"

Batman had not expected _that_. All manner of reasons as to why Selina had asked him instantly began running through his mind as he was knocked back once again. However, Batman forced all of them out of his mind. He had to stay focussed. He had to stay on task. He had to do whatever it would take to find the Joker. Even if that meant telling Selina about a truth that had been kept hidden from billions. Even then, though, he was not about to go in depth. Selina had better not be toying with him. One word would have to do.

"Yes."

"I see," Selina nodded. For a brief moment she turned away again. For a brief moment, she seemed almost disappointed. Then she turned back to face him, looking almost happy. "It would never have worked between us you know. I've accepted that for some time now, I think. There was a time when I yearned to hear you say that about me, that you could learn to accept me for exactly who I am. But I learned to accept that neither of us are going to change, and to sit around waiting for you to would be a disservice to both of us. I think you must have done too, considering. I knew it as soon as that news story hit the globe. You know, that one of you and the Amazon… _embracing_. Kind of kicked a spark back into me, too. Ever wonder why I came back here? It wasn't just for the prizes, though they are always a bonus. Seeing the fact that even you could change, seeing that you'd embraced that change, it highlighted something I've been feeling for a while. That maybe it was time for a change myself. I've just got to figure out what that is. Don't get me wrong, I've not gone all broody and maternal, nor is it that I want to be your latest Bat-apprentice, but, for whatever reason, stealing just isn't enough on its own anymore. Maybe helping you out tonight, for one night only, can help me to get there. But you know what? Regardless of work and the law, and even if the fun of our endless chase is gone, I'm pleased for you. We _both_ deserve to be happy."

It was not something that Batman had ever thought about hearing since he had let Diana into his life, not coming from Selina. In fact, he had come to terms with the fact that he and Selina would never be some time ago, even if his feelings for her would never truly die. However, hearing her say all of that now, it meant a lot. Still, he could not let it show, as most people would have done. He actually found a strong part of him wanted to, but it just wasn't him. He just couldn't bring himself to do it.

The Joker. He had to find the Joker.

"The name, Selina," Batman pushed again, though a large amount of the usual anger had suddenly dissipated from his tones. He had given her what she wanted. Now he needed what she knew.

"Oh no, if you think I'm just going to tell you that and let you wander off to fight this alone you've got another think coming," Selina said, shaking her head. She still sounded so serious, despite her use of language. What was more, there was also absolutely no doubt in Batman's mind that she was telling him the truth. Talking with Selina was usually a game of cat and mouse, a case of spot the lie, spun by her to achieve her own end. This time, after so long, was different. This time, Batman could tell one hundred percent that Selina meant every word. "You say the Joker won't let the rest of your hero pals play? Well what about this little kitty? I'll _take_ you to the intermediary. I'll help you follow the trail to the clown. If Joker's doing all this, then I feel pretty safe in guessing that at some point he's going to be coming after you too. I told you I felt a change, didn't I? This is one night that I can't let you wander out into the big, dangerous city alone. Not after you just admitted the truth to me. You've got someone you need to come home to now. I can't let you go out and get yourself killed. You chasing after me I can handle. An enraged, superpowered Amazon? No thanks."

"Selina, you don–"

"No, no arguing," Selina cut Batman off before he could really begin. "You have two options. I go with you, or you waste time trying to find a new lead. I don't care what you have to say. The me of a few months ago is screaming right now that I'm mad for doing this, but I've made up my mind. So what's it going to be?"

She really _was_ serious. That too, then, meant she really must be changing. Good. She was right with what she had said. They did both deserve to be happy. Diana had somehow found a way to do the impossible and start Batman on the road to that. Perhaps this change, whatever it was she was after, would be Selina's own first steps.

But only once this night was done. More so than what she had told him, Batman found this latest development hard to believe. When he had come here it was only in the expectancy that Selina would be able to give him a more actionable lead than anything else he had to go on. He had not come in search of a partner. Yet now it seemed he had one, a very determined sounding one at that.

And, more importantly, he did indeed have that all important lead.

But there was plenty of work still to do. They had to find the Joker. They had to save Gotham and as many of its people as they possibly could. And they had to ensure that the Joker had no way of harming the Justice League even worse than he had done already. There was still no word yet, no word on how much damage the Joker's attack had done.

No word yet on whether Diana was still alive.

"Gear up," Batman growled, referring to Selina's Catwoman guise and gadgets, distracting his mind from such thoughts. They meant more than the world to him, but the Batman had to stay focused. He _had_ to. Just as much as he had to hear that Diana was alright. "We've no time to lose."


	14. Chapter 13: Breaking the Mould

_**A/N:**_

 _ **So I've seen a bit of an influx of favourites and follows of both this and me lately. Thought that warranted getting the next bit in posting condition, my way of saying thanks in return. Show the love and I won't be able to resist! So you know what that means if you want to see Chapter 14 in the next week or two? Hit me up with those reviews! They make it all worthwhile for me!**_

 _ **Oh, and since this is the first thing on FF I've posted since they both passed, I've got to dedicate it to Roger Moore and Adam West. True Icons of their time, who will never be forgotten.**_

* * *

 **Chapter 13: Breaking the Mould**

The full mass of clay was attacking before Wonder Woman could move. The lasso had revealed Clayface's true form, but it couldn't hold him, not when he could just slide himself out of the rope as if it weren't even there. Even if the lasso was magic, it was designed for use on wholly _solid_ beings, not living clay.

Wonder Woman just about managed to throw up her arms in a defensive gesture, but against the mud of Clayface that didn't help much. The glob was instantly knocking her back, her footing not firm, though she managed to stay standing. But worse, it was consuming her, surrounding her, enveloping her entire being within the mud. Wonder Woman was instantly moving, ready to force her way back out again. But it turned out she didn't have to. It was only after a moment that she realised that Clayface's intention wasn't to try to drown her within himself.

No, he was trying to escape.

Sacrificing any kind of humanoid form, Clayface was throwing everything he had towards the commissary exit. All of his mass hit the doors, hard and fast. With the blast doors down, the chances were that they would have normally been able to hold him, so thorough had Batman been when it came to installing the stations security systems. However, normally the blast doors had not been smashed open already that same day. They had no chance, not of keeping Clayface back. He had only to buckle them slightly to get himself squeezed through if he condensed his body through the hole. As things were though, he smashed the remnants of the blast doors clean away.

He was loose. That could not be allowed to last. It didn't matter that he was still trapped on the Watchtower with nowhere to go with the teleporters still down. After what he had done in the Joker's name, after what he had done while wearing Superman's face, he _had_ to be caught. With what he might do next and what he might be able to tell them about the Joker's plan, he _had to be caught_. To help Bruce, to possibly _save_ Bruce, Clayface _had_ to be caught.

Wonder Woman was residue free as the clay passed through her, surging out into the corridor. That meant that there was nothing holding her back from giving an instant pursuit. And she did not wait around. She took flight, charging after the retreating Clayface as fast as she could. There was no plan in her head, not yet. She just knew that she had to catch him first.

She was not the only one with such thoughts either. She barely listened to GL's shout that he would cover off the hangar bays, but she certainly noticed that the corridor had less space than she had first expected. Shayera's wings practically got clipped by Diana's outstretched fist as both women surged through the air after Clayface. Sparing only the briefest of glances, Wonder Woman saw a determination in Shayera's eyes, so strong that it could even match her own, the Thanagarian mace already sparked into life. Shayera had shown her own emotion at the situation when she had confronted Wonder Woman outside the commissary earlier. Now that fury was being let loose.

But it wasn't just the two of them either. She should have known before she saw the red streak. Of course it was Flash who had darted out in front. With his speed, it was inevitable. Clayface was hardly going slowly, traveling as if he was a landslide incarnate, virtually rolling his changeable form over itself to get the maximum speed possible. It was because of that that he had managed to get a gap on Wonder Woman and Shayera, a gap that was being closed only slowly. Not for Flash, though. Flash had the gap closed in no time.

And that was his big mistake. Clayface had not been doing this blindly or stupidly. He had somehow managed to convince all of the Justice League that he was one of them, _Superman_ at that. Not one of them had seen through it either, or at least not enough to put the pieces together. That meant he knew what he was doing. Wonder Woman had heard that he had been an actor once. He had certainly learned his role this time. Including knowledge of how the key players in the Justice League acted. He clearly knew without doubt that Flash would be the first on him, rushing in at speed. That meant that Clayface was able to take Flash out of the picture in one fell swoop.

The clay paused its retreat virtually the instant Flash was close enough. Wonder Woman saw it go down. Clayface changed his form. No longer was he just a glob of mud, but suddenly he was a barrier, a shin high, solid block. The perfect tool with which to send Flash flying. The speed Flash was running, he had no way of stopping himself either. Wonder Woman could almost feel the pain as Flash tripped, slamming headfirst into the bulkhead. His body then slumped, clearly out cold.

Yet Clayface wasn't hanging around to admire his handiwork. He was rapidly on the move again, charging onwards as if the Flash didn't even exist.

"Keep going, I'll look after the kid!"

It was STRIPE who had shouted. Wonder Woman hadn't even realised that he was there with them, but she was glad that he was. It meant someone was there to look after Wally, enabling her and Shayera to keep on chasing. Luckily, they now had an advantage. Clayface had had to stop to take out Flash, but there had been no stopping Wonder Woman or Shayera. They had surged onwards, now practically in touching distance of the villain.

Unfortunately, he seemed to know it to, helped, no doubt, by the fact that he could literally put his eyes to the back of his head. Perhaps that was exactly why he didn't just keep on running.

Doors meant nothing to Clayface, it seemed. Once again he was throwing himself into one, only this time he was not smashing his way through. By stretching his body out to make it virtually two dimensional, he had squeezed himself through the cracks in it to what lay beyond.

Wonder Woman and Shayera both dropped to a standing position in front of the sealed metal. Wonder Woman recognised where they were, surprised at how far they had travelled in such a short time. Beyond that door lay one of the League's many laboratories. That instantly put Wonder Woman off guard. There was good reason why laboratories were still used on the space station as opposed to on the newer, Earth based Metrotower. All sorts of items and experiments could be in there, dangerous ones at that. If Clayface knew how to use them, or even if he triggered something by accident…

Shayera clearly had come to the same conclusion. She gave Wonder Woman a slight nod, gripping her mace ever tighter and standing ready in an attack posture. The signal was clear. She was telling Wonder Woman to open the door, set to fight Clayface the instant that she did. After all, this laboratory was a dead end, no way in or out other than the one that Wonder Woman and Shayera were stood beside. Clayface had backed himself into a corner, with no way out other than to fight. Shayera was ready to give him one. Wonder Woman was too. She nodded back before hitting the control panel at the side of the door, sending the two pieces of metal whooshing apart. Shayera did not pause in the slightest before she was stepping inside, the energy rippling around her mace, just ready to deal a hammer blow.

It never came. Shayera had been ready as she had stepped over the void, but Clayface had been even readier. Neither of them had a chance of spotting him before he struck, just as Shayera had stepped forward. She had gone with her mace held in front of her, at the ready and lighting up the room with the energy rippling around it. Providing Clayface with the perfect target.

He lashed out from the shadows, having hidden to the side of the room, as if part of the wall itself. Raw mud jumped out from nowhere, latching on to Shayera's mace, hands and all, like a crocodile snatching up a drinking wildebeest. It was as if the rippling the energy of it had no direct effect on there living clay, for there was no recoil. Instead, even more of the mud was forming around Shayera's wrists before Wonder Woman's eyes. Mud that was starting to pull Shayera in, towards Clayface's very innards. It didn't take a genious to figure out what was happening. Clayface was going for the kill. With nowhere to run, this time he _was_ trying to drown her within his own body. And even the immensely brave Shayera Hol was obviously scared.

And it was all happening right before Diana's eyes. She could _not_ allow it to continue.

So far everything had happened in the blink of an eye. That was also just about as long as it took for Wonder Woman to leap forward into action. She had to get Shayera free. Nothing that the Thanagarian was doing was helping her cause. No amount of strength, no amount of energy from the mace was getting her loose. Nothing was stopping the suction of the clay, dragging her in. But then Shayera didn't possess Amazonian strength. Wonder Woman grasped her arms around her friend, catching onto her shoulders. With all of her gods given might, Wonder Woman pulled, trying to drag Shayera free from the clay that she was now up to her elbows in.

Even against Wonder Woman's force, though, Clayface fought back. On the basis of pure power, Wonder Woman was starting to drag Shayera out, slowly but surely. That was why Clayface clearly decided to try and throw her off. He spun, spun fast, trying to twist so rapidly that Diana wouldn't be able to hang on, not caring if he snapped Shayera in two in the process. But, even as they swung away from the doorway in rapid pirouette, Diana's skill meant she did hang on. More than that, she kept on pulling, kept on dragging Shayera clear. However, Clayface had obviously had enough encouragement about his new tactic, since he was trying the exact same thing again only moments later.

This time, though, his action coincided perfectly with Wonder Woman's own. Just as Clayface was spinning them again, Wonder Woman heard the satisfying 'squelch-pop', the sound of Shayera's wrists leaping out of the clay. The mace was nowhere to be seen, clearly still lost within the mud, but Shayera was out.

Neither of them were out of the woods, though. The reverse momentum of Wonder Woman's efforts did not go away just because she had what she wanted. Combined with Clayface's spin, it was enough to send both women flying.

Wonder Woman crashed against the wall of the lab, Shayera crashing even harder into Wonder Woman. For a brief moment both women were instantly dazed and winded. It didn't last long, but it was long enough. This time it was Clayface who could keep on moving while they were temporarily halted, and he too took full advantage of such an opportunity. The mud was rapidly encroaching, fully stretched out to cover floor to ceiling, wall to wall. He had Wonder Woman and Shayera trapped in the corner, a corner whose cubic volume was rapidly decreasing. The clay was closing in. His plan on drowning them wasn't abandoned. He was coming in to try all over again.

Wonder Woman braced herself. Clayface's inhuman visage had reappeared amongst the mud, showing him grinning wildly at the prospect of what he was trying to do. She was not out of this yet though, and neither was Shayera. They both knew that Clayface could adjust his form, that he may possess the ability to prevent even Wonder Woman from escaping from the trap he had made with his own body, but they were damn well going to try.

Or at least they would have done, if the others hadn't chosen that moment to arrive. Wonder Woman may not have been able to see, but even through Clayface she could certainly hear. It took a lot more than mud to be able to completely black out the sound of one of Black Canary's screams.

It was working on Clayface instantly, the strain coming on his literal face of clay. Having seen Canary in action before, Wonder Woman knew full well that her cry could shake things right to their very core. Right now, Clayface was undergoing exactly that. His entire, stretched out body was trembling, with him starting to resemble a puddle in a thunderstorm. The shockwaves of the cry were threatening Clayface's very physical integrity, his consistency. He was having to put everything into just staying together, so much so that he could no longer contain Shayera's mace, the weapon thrown clear of his form and sent scattering across the room. From the ripples of his body, it looked like Clayface was only moments away from being torn apart by it all.

That was almost certainly why he altered his form. Clayface suddenly reverted to his more normal shape, compacting his body in an attempt to stop Canary's assault. It seemed to have somewhat worked too, the rippling reducing despite Canary's screams continuing, now all the more audible to Wonder Woman's ears.

But the damage being done wasn't stopped entirely. It was clear that Clayface was trying to step forward, trying to take Canary out just as he had been going after Wonder Woman and Shayera, but her scream was still hitting him hard enough to keep him back.

Wonder Woman was about to step in, to help Black Canary out, but once again someone else beat her to it.

The trick arrow pounded into Clayface's torso before Wonder Woman had even spotted that Green Arrow had arrived either. Wonder Woman wasn't sure what kind of arrow this one was. She couldn't even see what exactly it did to Clayface, impacting deep into the opposite side of the muddy body. But all Wonder Woman cared about was that it did the trick. She watched as Clayface's body convulsed a whole lot more. A few moments later he collapsed, body solidified into a twisted shape. He hit the ground hard, unconscious before he even dropped.

They had done it. They had caught Clayface. They had caught the man who had directly brought about the deaths of so many of the Justice League's own.

Some of the Justice League's own, including Wildcat and Speedy. Two people who had been very close to Green Arrow and Black Canary…

The same Green Arrow and Black Canary who were standing over the fallen Clayface right now.

The fallen Clayface that was their best lead to stopping this madness by a long, long way.

"Thanks for the assist, guys," Shayera muttered as she pushed herself up, picking her mace up at the same time. Diana could pretty quickly tell that Shayera had had the same thought that she had just had. Still, Wonder Woman took it upon herself to add the actual warning, even if she did completely understand where they were both coming from.

"But you both need to back away now. He _will_ pay for what he did, but you have to leave it to us. Please. We need to know how deep this goes, how badly we're compromised, and what the villains might have lined up for us next. And…we can't resort to the kind of actions that we would regret."

Both Canary and Green Arrow showed no sign of reaction. They were both looking at the fallen Clayface, looks of pain and anger etched to their very cores. They were both looking ready to snap, like they were ready to cross the uncrossable line. Green Arrow in particular was looking murderous, fingers clenching tight around the bow from one hand, the other looking dangerously close to going for his quiver again.

"Hey, I think it's time you listen to the lady," Shayera chirped up again, a note of force and command in her voice. She clutched at her mace threateningly to emphasise the point. "I'll mash this guy into the ground myself for what he did, but we need to wait until we have some answers. We _need_ those answers."

Again Black Canary and Green Arrow acted as if they hadn't heard anything. At first anyway. Then, after a few moments of tension, Black Canary finally moved, putting a flat, calming hand onto Green Arrow's bow. He looked up at her as if betrayed as she pushed his bow down, taking away any kill shot he was considering.

"Arrow, they're right," Canary finally said, sounding as if she was facing a battle to keep her voice from shaking. "I think it's time we took ourselves out of this one. I think it's time that we need to be on our own, to grieve."

For a moment, Canary continued to look up at Arrow, doing so in a reassuring, almost pleading manner, with her own pain far from hidden. It was asking him to accept what she had accepted, begging him to. Finally, Green Arrow's head dropped in acceptance. Then, more than that. He howled in rage, hurling his bow away in fury, sending it crashing against the distant wall. Emotions were clearly tumbling out of him, vast and varying ones. Wonder Woman was feeling his pain with great empathy. Unfortunately, there was simply nothing she could do as Green Arrow gave up the ghost. Without saying another word, he turned and walked away. Black Canary merely offered Wonder Woman and Shayera a knowing look before following after him.

"Well I think that summed this whole thing up," Shayera muttered from Wonder Woman's side as both watched Canary disappear around the corner. "Come on, let's get this… _thing_ some place a bit more safe and secure before he starts waking up. And then we can start with our _interrogation_."

Wonder Woman could only nod in agreement, eyes now dropping back down to stare at Clayface's rigid body laid out on the deck. Yes, the interrogation certainly would be interesting.

They had to make sure the Justice League and the Watchtower were now safe.

They had to find out what else Clayface knew of the Joker's wider plan.

They had to find out what Batman was facing down in Gotham, just how dangerous things were down there and if there was any way they could help him.

And now that she had the chance to stop and truly think about it, there was another key question that kept occurring to Wonder Woman.

For they also had to find out what had happened to the real Superman.

* * *

It hadn't taken them too long to get a modified interrogation room set up. Clayface was safely installed in it before he had begun to reawaken from Green Arrow's attack. The chamber was small, a squat little room complete with an observation window. The best way of containing Clayface was to not give him the chance to attack again. There were no handcuffs, no shackles, nothing of the traditional sort in there to prevent Clayface from struggling against his captivity. Such things would be pointless against a shape changer. Instead, an untraditional method was used. Once upon a time Batman had beaten Clayface thanks to rain water literally causing Clayface to begin to fall apart. Just as Black Canary had managed to subdue Clayface by threatening his consistency, water could be used to weaken him, to make him unable to utilise his shape changing abilities without him falling apart. That water just had to be applied at the right quantity to not simply dissolve Clayface away. Thanks to the fire suppression systems on the Watchtower, precisely such a scenario had been arranged for Clayface's new cell. The moisture levels in the air had been adjusted to be at the precise degree where Clayface was effectively powerless.

Considering all that he had done, Wonder Woman found it rather satisfying to see the look of consternation cross Clayface when he awoke and realised just how trapped he was. She had stood there watching from the moment Clayface had been deposited in that room, just waiting for him to awaken so that they could begin to get their answers. Green Lantern was stood by her side, similarly watching on, particularly with his ring a useful containment tool should Clayface do the unexpected and find some way out of their hold. With the earlier exchange proving that the lasso may well be out of the question in the interrogation, he was also there to assist in asking the questions. Not that Wonder Woman felt she needed the help, but it was the entire League that needed the answers, not just her, and so she had not argued when he had followed her here.

She had actively sought one person to accompany her in this task, however. Of all of them on the Watchtower, Nightwing was the one who knew Clayface the best. From how Wonder Woman understood it, he had never actively engaged Clayface himself. However, as a onetime partner to Batman, he was well versed in all of Gotham's super criminals, meticulously prepared should the need to engage them in the pursuit of justice ever arise. As such, he not only knew of Clayface's physical abilities but also his mental dexterity. Of all of them, it was Nightwing who was best positioned to know exactly what questions to ask or pick up on any slips Clayface might make to get them to what they needed to know.

Unfortunately, it was also Nightwing who had to remain working on restoring power to the Watchtower, as well as making sure there were no more booby traps in the systems just waiting to be triggered. With Clayface revealed, Wonder Woman had decided it was safe to trust all of the others again. Nightwing had spent too much time with Batman in his life to have not picked up the paranoia. He insisted on doing the work himself until he knew better and, as it could well be vital to get the transporters and the comms working again, that was where Nightwing was prioritising. Still, he was proving the old sayings wrong by multitasking. He had kept his comm line open, listening in to everything Wonder Woman said and heard so that he could offer up any words of wisdom and advice he may have, without having to stop his work.

"The good news is Flash has a sore head but Iceberg says he's all right. I've got him busy looking after the civilians, making sure everyone's holding up okay, all things considered. How are things here?"

Wonder Woman glanced back over her shoulder, taking her eyes off Clayface for the first time in a long time to see Shayera enter the observation room to Clayface's cell. Once they had gotten Clayface dumped here, Shayera had immediately gone to check up on Wally, particularly with the Watchtower's current dearth in medical personnel following the loss of Doctor Conway and her staff. Wonder Woman was certainly relieved to hear Flash wasn't badly hurt. Still, it was yet another reason why Clayface would have to pay.

"All quiet," GL answered the woman he loved. "The high humidity is working a treat on our _friend_. We've been leaving him to stew in there for a bit, let him realise just how hopeless his situation is so he knows his best chance is to co-operate with us."

"And I think we've let him stew for long enough," Wonder Woman added, jumping in on Green Lantern's words. She was certainly ready to get going. Patience, as Batman had pointed out before, was not her greatest virtue. Besides, this night they hardly had all the time in the world to wait around. The lives of all on the Watchtower could depend on what they could learn right now.

The lives of Superman and Bruce could depend on it.

Wonder Woman did not wait for the other two to concur with her decision. She stepped forward, up to the observation window, hitting the button in the panel between it and the door through. The interrogation cell had been built onto the second Watchtower should the Justice League ever need to temporarily hold a criminal deemed too dangerous to be kept on the Earth, at least until a better solution could be found. It had been designed for interrogations exactly like this one, from a room apart, with the observation window capable of being a one-way mirror. In pressing the button, Wonder Woman had reverted it to a two-way, meaning that Clayface could now see and hear them as well as the other way around. Wonder Woman saw as he spotted the glass almost de-frosting, the knowledge of what was about to happen hitting him straight away. He didn't look too happy about it. Wonder Woman leapt on that opening.

"You clearly didn't plan on getting caught," she began, keeping her voice low but also with plenty of power behind it. "You clearly thought that you would be able to keep up your subterfuge until you were able to get away from the Watchtower. But you've failed. We know all about you, Mr. Hagen. We know that you don't fight for the same reasons that most villains do. We know you only want to become more human again. So why are you doing this? Why are you helping the Joker?"

"Nice," Nightwing's voice muttered in her ear, giving his approval to her opening question while Clayface looked up at her through the glass.

"Why should I tell you?" Clayface answered after a second of consideration. He had a force of his own to his voice, a determination. However, there was also the sense that not everything was sitting well with him. A sense of nervousness, a sense that there was something more to him being here than the malicious madness of men like the Joker. A sense that maybe there was something else that Clayface was after instead… "Why should I tell you a damn thing?"

"Because we can give you what you really want," Wonder Woman answered, latching onto the hints of weakness that she had spotted in Clayface. "The Justice League has all manner of resources that you can't get easily anywhere else. We can use those resources to help you. We can use them to make you human again, just like you've always wanted. Just so long as you help us first."

"No deal," Clayface returned, just a little too quickly. "I've grown to like my powers. I may want to be human again, but I don't want to lose them either. Make me human and let me keep my abilities and we'll talk. That's what that gorilla promised me before. That's what you got to deliver now for me to give you anything."

"Perhaps you should reconsider," Wonder Woman pointed out. She adopted a more threatening tone, lacing each word with a subtle anger that wasn't hard to drum up. "Don't forget, we're in space, miles away from the jurisdictions of any nation on the Earth. That means there's no one to determine your punishment but the Justice League. And you can rest assured. We _will_ punish you. You _will_ face justice. You killed a lot of good people today, Mr. Hagen. A lot of true heroes. Good, noble people who deserved so much better. So, unless you start helping yourself, you will get what _you_ very thoroughly deserve."

For a second, Clayface seemed to be considering very closely what she had just said. Then he seemed to have an idea and merely laughed. "Nice bluff, sweetheart, but I'm no idiot. You're meant to be the good guys. You wouldn't hurt anyone like that, even if it was the right thing to do. You've got absolutely nothing to threaten me with that's worse than anything down below."

"Don't be so sure," Wonder Woman again countered. "You're right, we won't hurt you directly. We aren't savages like that. But we can send you to a prison unlike any on Earth, a prison you'll never escape from; the Phantom Zone."

"And what a lovely place _that_ is," Green Lantern added his voice to the equation. "A good friend of mine once spent some time in there, as well as telling me the stories about the experiences of those two Kryptonian warlords who tried to invade a while back. You'd be completely formless, neither dead nor alive, with nothing to do but exist in nothingness. Sound like a good idea to you?"

"Especially with Doomsday still locked in there," Shayera jumped in too. "Even Kryptonians struggle to match him. You really fancy being locked up with him for eternity, on top of all the rest?"

"All right, all right, you've made your point!" Clayface literally screamed, clearly not at all liking the sound of what he was hearing. In fact, he sounded absolutely terrified of it. More information that Wonder Woman might be able to use. It wasn't too surprising, really. Wonder Woman knew that what Clayface most wanted was to be human again. Taking away all physical form completely would only have the opposite effect. _That_ clearly terrified him. "You got a deal after all! I'll tell you whatever it is you need to know. On one condition; I'm _not_ held by you guys! You send me back, you send me back down to Earth. You let whoever it is down there do what they want to me but you lot stay away. You cure me, you make me human, but you don't lay a finger on me otherwise! That's the deal!"

Wonder Woman had to bite her tongue. Her instant reaction was to say no. The desire was certainly strong in her to keep Clayface right here, to allow the Justice League to ensure that Clayface absolutely faced the punishment that he deserved. She was clearly far from alone in feeling such a sentiment. However, it was also a very selfish sentiment for them. One that wouldn't help keep Bruce and Superman safe at all.

"That's a deal we can accept," she said instead, tone lightening slightly. "On one proviso of our own. You'll get to return to the civilian authorities on the planet, you'll get our help to make you truly human again. But you have to talk first. You have to give us actionable intelligence for us to consider giving you _anything_. Help us to stop the Joker and save lives tonight, _then_ on my word as an Amazon, you shall get your help and your asylum."

"Which means, so long as you don't want me to go fetch the Phantom Zone projector right now, it's about time you answered the original question," Shayera forcefully pointed out before Clayface could state his obvious agreement with those terms. "Why are you in on this, Clayface? Why are you attacking the Justice League?"

"Because of what I was promised," Clayface growled with his last hint of reluctance expelled. "Because of where I _was_ when I was promised it. Hardly a day's gone by that I wish I never had the accident, that I didn't let Daggett turn me into… _this_. It didn't help things any when you people decided to stick a tonne of fireworks in me and blow me up into over a thousand crisp and tiny pieces, just for helping out that ape. I had to spend months finding them all and getting them all _unburnt_. Months. Months of scrounging around in all kinds of filth, trying to get myself as whole again as I can get. Even when I had all the bits and pieces, I still felt weak. I had no choice but to go into hiding.

"Look, you gotta understand that I only sided with the ape because of what he said he could get me. _He_ was meant to help fix me. To make me _look_ normal again. But he didn't. He just got me blown up, and left without what I so wanted. That sunk in. That… _This…_ What I am, all of it, makes me feel so damn alien. I'd do _anything_ to be human again. I'd do anything to forget all of this… _clay_ ever happened. That's why I hid, shacking up in a city suburb far from anywhere I'd lived before. I was trying to forget.

"Didn't work. Every time my concentration slipped, I saw what I am these days. No matter how much I pretended to be normal, I could only hide the truth from others. It was always slapping me right in the face. My _clay face_. I spent a whole night in front of a mirror, just staring at it, looking at what I've become. At what people turned me into. And I realised just how much I hate those people. But even more than that I hate the man who always stops my efforts to make myself human while holding onto my new skills, the man who keeps sending me back to hell.

"Batman. The god damn Batman. Every time I close in on avenging myself, on giving myself a human face again, the Batman gets in the way. Which is what I realised most that night.

"Everything that's wrong in my life, it's the Batman's fault. That was why I couldn't say no the night I had the mystery knock on my door. I never had visitors. I'd gotten myself a solitary life. So the knock on the door right in the middle of the night was quite a surprise. It was even more of a surprise for me to see the clown and his moll standing right there. The Joker and Harley Quinn were at my door.

"No idea how they found me. Nutters like them aren't normally the type I like spending time with, but Joker started talking before I could get rid of him. Talking _a lot_. The guy had a plan. All laid out with plenty of designs, even if he hardly told me any of them. But he told me a few, a few that he wanted me for, a few that you've just been finding out all about.

"Now, I'm sure you can guess I didn't tell you the whole story for nothing, and it wasn't just to show off that I still got the emotional range. The Joker said he had money, that he could get the funds I need so that I could get myself whatever it was that I wanted. He could too. He could get me what I wanted. I would take his funds. I could try to chase after a new version of the MP-40. But he was going to give me something else I wanted, something his whole plan was designed for.

"Together, we were going to hurt the Batman. _Badly_ hurt him. _Everything_ tonight is designed for that. This whole damn night is to make him truly suffer before he gets finished off for good. All of it. Including what's happened up here on your space station.

"Joker claims to know that Bat better than anyone. Says that making his allies suffer will be a sure way to make _him_ suffer, that every one of you I killed would be another knife in the Bat's guts. The clown gave me all sorts of tools to do it. Data cards to download programmes into your systems, bombs to go in the perfect locations, all sorts. Wasn't hard to smuggle them up when your own body can be made into a container. I just had to time things right and stay hidden, waiting for his signal to start triggering the things. And that came tonight.

"Tonight's the night the Joker brings down the Bat."

Joker. Wonder Woman had known that was coming, but hearing that name still sent the shivers down her spine and the anger rushing up it. There was no more deranged and dangerous man on the Earth than the Joker, a true example of why Amazon's had despised men for so long. And now Clayface and just confirmed that this was all down to him, that this was all about the Joker's plans to hurt Bruce. It was a plan that _had_ to be stopped.

"How?" Shayera pushed, asking the question before Wonder Woman could get it said herself. Diana was relieved to hear that all of Shayera's own rage seemed directed at Clayface and Joker. Even for those who knew him, it would have been easy for people to blame Batman for what had happened after hearing what Clayface had just said, especially in the heat of the moment. Thankfully Shayera seemed to be able to see past that. "What's next? What else have you got lined up between you and that madman? How many more innocents are you planning to kill?"

"I couldn't tell you what's going down in Gotham," Clayface said half-heartedly, almost shrugging it away. "That's not a part of the plan I'm involved in, so the Joker didn't tell it to me. I just know that it'll keep the Bat busy all night, and that no one in that city is really safe."

"And what about the Watchtower?" Green Lantern asked. "Are there any more surprises up here?"

"Just a bit of a set-up to completely knock out your life support systems," Clayface replied as if it were an everyday answer. "A kind of insurance policy to ensure maximum damage was done up here. After getting you guys to put your own people on the ships that killed them, to make your own hands dirty, the Joker wanted me to leave you all to suffer and grieve, to let you stew in the hurt of what you had seen and done, hoping that that would flood back to Batman in all its entirety. Especially from you, Wonder Woman. For some reason, Joker's got his eye on you too in all this. Gave explicit orders that I _wasn't_ to kill you, in fact. Sounded like he was hoping that you would be the one to deliver Batman his share of the grief. Like he was expecting you to have a bigger role to play in his plan as the night goes on. I guess he has something special lined up for you. Especially since the surprise in the life support gear is only set to go off at a time when none of you, me or Batman are still on this station."

"Yo, you guys are doing great. Consider whatever he's got in the life support toast."

Nightwing's voice had rung out in Wonder Woman's ear, but she hardly listened to it. She knew that he would handle things, just as he said. That meant it was safe for her mind to be distracted by other thoughts. In that initial video statement from the Joker that Bruce had found in the training droids, it was clear that Joker knew of her and Bruce, that he was using that as the excuse behind his latest, and perhaps deadliest, campaign. However, Wonder Woman had thought it was exactly that. An excuse. She hadn't believed that it was a reality behind the attack, that all of this could be linked back to her.

She didn't blame Bruce for the Joker's actions, but that didn't mean she didn't now blame herself to some degree. She knew better than to let it control her, but it did certainly affect her. She certainly felt it. However, more than anything it just made her mission clearer, the need to stop the Joker stronger. This night, this threat, it had to end. Whatever it was the Joker had lined up, she could not afford to think about it. She would just have to face it when the time came. She had to focus on the here and now, on saving lives.

And she had to hope that Bruce was doing the same in Gotham, without losing his own. She had to hope that dearly. At least there was one piece of solace on that front. Based on what Clayface was saying, Bruce was still alive. Clayface had said the Joker had a whole night lined up to hurt Bruce. Well, the night was still young. Joker wouldn't have tried to outright kill Batman yet, not from the sound of things. The dangers were there, the chance for plenty of pain and suffering, but he should still be alive.

 _He should still be alive_.

Therefore, he still every chance of stopping the Joker and living to see another day. They _all_ had a chance. Wonder Woman had to believe that too.

Which lead her to her next question. They had to save everyone. _Everyone,_ who wasn't already gone. And in that moment, one of their own was missing. They had to find him, to make sure he was safe and still alive too.

"What about the real Superman? You've been masquerading up here as him. That means you must have been sure that he wouldn't come here and interrupt you're little scheme, which suggests that you somehow found a way to take him out of play. If you're smart, you'll tell me right now what you have done with him."

"I knew it. I knew that news story of you snogging the Bat was a phoney. I always said that Superman was more your type!" Clayface started with a soft chuckle. He clearly thought he'd caught her out, that her desire to help Superman was more than she openly let on. A false and shallow notion so many people couldn't get past. Still, Clayface didn't need correcting. Joker's allies didn't need even more ammunition. It was bad enough that the clown seemed to know the truth. Besides, Clayface was talking, and Wonder Woman had no desire to interrupt. Not with her _friend's_ life potentially at stake. Even the Man of Steel could be killed in the right circumstances, and Joker had proved before he was mad enough to find them. "But to answer your question before you run off to fetch your death ray, I've no idea how the Joker did it. But he did do it. The Joker's got him, got him powerless too. Trapped and weak he is, like an animal at the zoo. An eerie cell bathing everywhere around it in some sort of red light that keeps Superman down."

That was news that Wonder Woman had not wanted to hear, but deep down had known was coming. She didn't need Green Lantern's breathed comment to realise that Clayface was talking about artificial red sunlight. Light that would indeed sap Superman of all of his tremendous powers, leaving him completely at the Joker's mercy. Still, Clayface was still talking, so Wonder Woman let him go on. If this was going to get even worse, they would have to know about it before acting.

"Joker already had him hostage before he recruited me for all of this. Said I was to replace him up here. So I spent days over there, watching him, getting to learn his mannerisms, his natural postures. I studied him, learning him, just as actors do. Just as I used to do before…all of this. And I have to say, it's one hell of a role. It's not every day that you get to be Superman."

"Where?" Shayera stopped Clayface before he could start ranting. " _Where_ is he?"

Clayface continued to look Wonder Woman straight in the eye, despite it being Shayera's question he was answering. "Bludhaven. Close enough to Gotham so that the Joker can keep a close eye on him, but not in Gotham itself so as to be more assured that his presence won't risk upsetting the plan there. I can give you a direct address if you want. But I would say, you might want to hurry. You ought to have noticed that this plan doesn't shy away from killing off Justice Leaguers. I'd hate to think he might be next."

"Thanks for your co-operation. We'll let you know how it goes. I'm sure you'll be very comfortable in there until the Joker's ready for a cell of his own," Green Lantern snarled suddenly, obviously not liking what he was hearing, every bit as much as Wonder Woman. He stepped forward, hitting the button to make the glass frost over again and locking Clayface back to solitary before the mud could even begin to object. Immediately, all three of them turned away as one, not wanting to look at the killer clay any more through the screen that was now firmly back to being one-way. Instead they all turned to face each other, any sounds Clayface was still making lost to them.

"I'll get Vigilante and Shining Knight to keep watch on him," Shayera was the first to talk, her grip on her mace visibly tightening. She was addressing her words primary to Wonder Woman. "I assume you've ditched the quarantine idea anyway, but even if you haven't you're not stopping us. We're going to rescue Superman with you."

"I wouldn't have it any other way. In fact, we should get Flash in on this too. He has as much right to go as we do. We all stick together," Wonder Woman responded. However, she then turned her attention to talking to someone else. "Nightwing, Bludhaven's your turf, I believe. We could use your help too."

"No can do," Nightwing's voice replied with a surprising answer. "Too much to do up here. I need to get the comms and teleporters up and running again. From everything we've just heard, we're going to need the organisation and safety net of it if we want to be of any serious help down on the surface. For both Batman and Superman. For that, you need someone who can make absolutely sure that the Watchtower is safe again and, without wanting to be too immodest, no one up here is better suited to pulling that off than me. But there is someone else who can help you. A certain sidekick who's been in Bludhaven, learning the sights for the last few days. And since the Joker said he'd blow up all of Gotham if any hero but Batman showed up there, he'd currently be sat around watching and itching to act. He'll help. I'll set you up with a beacon that will transmit him all he'll need to know once your close enough for us to actually get a signal to work. I'll have him ready and waiting for you for as soon as you touch down."

"Robin," Wonder Woman voiced her understanding, giving a reflexive nod. Yes, Batman's young protégé would certainly be of help. The Justice League were learning the hard way today exactly why Batman insisted on his methods against the villains of Gotham city. Having someone who knew those methods inside out would certainly help ensure no more such lessons were learnt. With that decided, Wonder Woman was itching to go. Superman needed their help. There was just one small issue first. "How are you doing on the life support? When can we leave?"

"I found the sabotage," NIghtwing answered. "Just as old Clayface described it. But don't worry. I'll have it neutralised in no time. There'll be no Javelin confirmed as safe by then though, so I suggest you have the Green Lantern put his ring to good use. Man, I've got to get me one of those."

"Thanks Nightwing. Let us know as soon as you're ready."

Wonder Woman finally cut off the comm line at that, looking up again at the other two. They were watching her expectantly, just waiting for the order to be given. Even if they were insistent on helping now, given how all of this had started they were still looking to her to lead. Wonder Woman didn't hesitate in doing so.

"Come on," she said to them, moving away instantly. "Let's get Flash and get to the hangar. There's no time to lose."

And there really wasn't. Wonder Woman glanced back at Clayface through the frosted glass as she walked away. Even for a fiend like him, she felt a pang of empathic compassion that his life should have come to this. However, anger was definitely still the prevalent emotion. Yet it was an anger that she would soon be putting to good use. An anger that she planned on utilising in the fight to save Superman.

And maybe, if things should come to that and if she could find a way to do so without risking millions of innocent lives, an anger that she would utilise to help protect Batman too.

Somehow.


	15. Chapter 14: Going Under

**Chapter 14: Going Under**

"Damn it!"

She really hated this. She hated being confined to this damn chair when she should be out in the field, _actively_ helping Batman. Granted she was normally pretty good at this, at the hacking, the analysis, the following of cyber leads to their source. But that didn't mean she had to like it. There was still plenty of years of being Batgirl left in Barbara yet. Hitting another dead end in her scouring search made her realise that all the more. If only she had a choice…

"A problem, miss?" Alfred enquired. He had stayed with her in the cave from the second that Batman had left for the streets of Gotham. Barbara was doing most of the work, but Alfred was certainly a very useful second set of eyes, keeping watch on everything she was doing in case there was something in there that she missed. Or perhaps to spot something she had just not considered. Unfortunately, neither of them were having much look in finding some way, anyway, to track down the Joker.

"Another dead end, Alfred," Barbara explained, the exasperation plain as day in her voice. "Every single angle I try it keeps coming up blank. And I'm trying everything. For every known alias and associate of the Joker. And there's absolutely nothing significant in there. Nothing. _Nothing_ that will help us track down where he is. No money trail indicating which building's his hideout these days, or even to put a name to his remaining mercs. No record of any missing person's report to suggest a security guard who looked in the wrong place. Not even a change to the regular traffic patterns in the city to indicate where there might be oddly increased activity. And I don't think I can stand to watch the recording Batman sent us from the Watchtower again. There's nothing in that either, not even the sound of a distant train like there always is in the movies. All this searching and we're still at square one!"

There was a reason why everyone who met him genuinely liked Alfred Pennyworth. In that moment, he showed that reason off once again as he rested a reassuring hand on Barbara's shoulder.

"Do not burden yourself with frustration, miss," he softly spoke. It was almost a fatherly voice, one that he must have been well practised in after raising Bruce Wayne. "We must keep working, but we are doing everything that we can. There are times when we just have to have faith in ourselves, faith that the answers we seek are still ahead of us to be found and not lost to the darkness. This happens to be one of those times. I'm sure you have noticed I enjoy to study history. Well if it has taught me anything, it is that evil men always lose out in the end. And the Joker is certainly an evil man. Good shall prevail. You must remember that. And you must remember that you are _very_ good."

Alfred finished his pep talk with a smile, a smile that was infectious. Barbara felt one erupt on her own face, a faint trace of laughter bubbling out with it.

"Thanks, Alfred," she voiced her gratitude. Every now and then she needed that. There were times when every human being needed that reminder to keep going, no matter how small it was. Barbara, despite being Batgirl, was no different than the rest in that regard. "Alright, perhaps if we try a fresh approach. So far I've been looking for the same markers that we'd usually deem significant on the hunt. Perhaps if we start trawling through all that's flagging as _insignificant_ , we might find something small enough but different enough that it'll give us some pointers. I'll definitely need your eyes on this one though, Alfred, since there's… going… to be… Oh no."

Barbara trailed off. Something had just happened that made her suddenly lose the desire to speak. Something terrible. She had set the Batcomputer up to patch into Gotham's vast array of traffic cams and CCTV, ready to alert her the moment something was in view that would be useful, thanks to some seriously fancy facial recognition software and other similar programmes. As Barbara had been talking, the alert screen had suddenly become illuminated. The cameras had spotted something.

"Oh no?" Alfred repeated her closing words with a trace of confusion as he looked at the alert. "I don't understand. I thought you had that system to set up to find the Joker or his associates. Surely it detecting something can only help our cause?"

"It would do, if I hadn't set it up for something else too," Barbara said, actively hitting the buttons to bring up the camera feed that had just triggered the alert. A specific alert, ready to tell her about a specific type of event. "When the former Mayor was killed, I added something else to the programme. I told it to also keep an eye out for any more of those assassins, and for any sign of any more of their bloodbaths that the Joker promised. Covering such a wide array of parameters in such a big city is taxing the servers to the max, but I thought tonight it was worth it. And the cameras just picked something up, but it isn't a lead. Even Bruce would never be able to get there in time to catch the guy."

It was then that Barbara hit the final button to get the feed on the screen. Beside her, Alfred instantly recoiled at what he saw. Barbara felt like retching herself. Her algorithm clearly wasn't perfect; it looked like this had happened a few minutes ago, with police already arriving on the scene. Regardless, it was pure carnage. It was horrific. It was death. And not just of one person either, but of several people, including those who were _very_ innocent.

No one was safe from the Joker, it seemed. All bets were off.

And with so many people betting everything on Bruce – and by extension her, Alfred and all else remotely helping him – they had damn well not let them down. Not like they had those in the camera feed.

 _If only_ she could have worked quicker. _If only_ she had somehow tracked the Joker down so Batman could go and stop him.

Perhaps then the dozens of people, including children, would not have just been so brutally killed.

* * *

The distant sound of sirens had been his first indication that something had happened. However, with this being Gotham City he had just cast it aside as nothing out of the norm. Then his programme on the TV had been interrupted by the breaking news report. Instantly then, Uriah Kincaid knew something very bad had happened. Grabbing his coat, he had instantly run towards where those sirens had been heading. He had to know. He had to be wrong.

"They… they must have shot the bus driver first," he heard a very shell-shocked woman telling a policeman when he arrived. There were ambulances there too, paramedics working on the talking woman who was bleeding from the head and had a wrist that looked badly dislocated, on top of who knows what else. The police had the street locked down, but that hadn't stopped a crowd forming around the tape barrier, even at this time of night. Kincaid had joined that crowd, managing to worm himself right to the front so that he could see and hear everything. He just hoped that what he was expecting to see was not actually there.

The bus had crashed, right through the front of a store after apparently careening clear off the road. However, it was no mere traffic accident. Looking at the structural damage of the bus, the crash alone could have killed people. But someone had clearly not wanted to rely on that. _Someone_ had wanted to ensure that those on board that bus died. For _someone_ had also riddled that bus full of bullet holes.

"I never heard it coming, but the driver just slumped, like… like everyone else would later," the woman continued to tell the policeman. Kincaid kept note of the story, despite almost all of his attention being put on scanning the scene of that bus, which several policemen were already starting to investigate. He was desperately searching for the sign he hoped not to see. "The whole bus went out of control. One of the other passengers dove forward when it was obvious we had no more driver, but... but he's the one who's… He's all over the street now. The crash… Out of his chair and not in the bus driver's in time, it just sent him flying, clean out the glass. Though… Though maybe he was one of the luckier ones. The crash hurt a lot. There was blood. People were screaming. I don't know how I managed to come out of it so unscathed. I was flung forward from my seat. Tried and failed to catch myself, banging my head on the back of the seat in front. I fell, hitting the deck of the central aisle. I was dazed, vision clouded. I'm... I'm still foggy. But, in the end, it saved my life. The bullets started flying in as soon as soon as the bus had settled. They… It started raining glass as the windows were shot up. And then… And then it started to rain blood, as the _people on the bus_ were shot up… Oh god… Oh god, it was horrible… I… I just kept my head down. I kept my head down while everyone around me was dying! And... And… And I guess the shooter didn't realise I was there too, otherwise… _Otherwise_ …"

The woman started to trail off there, words apparently too difficult to say, the memories so recent and so disturbing and so painful. It was quite aptly timed, though, as it was then that Kincaid had stopped listening anyway. He had already spotted the corpse, the body of the man who had been thrown clear from the bus as described to the policeman. However, it was only then that he spotted the small, stuffed toy bunny rabbit that had been thrown off the bus with him.

He had been home alone that night, despite being a family man. He had a wife and four kids, and he was devoted to them. He had shown once before he would do anything to look after them and keep them safe, so much so that he had almost incurred Batman's wrath at one point. Back then, Gotham's resident hero had instead took pity on him and help him out of a tough time, helped him to keep his family alive.

But the Bat couldn't help him now.

Kincaid's beloved family had actually been away for the last few days, visiting his wife's sister out in Metropolis. Unfortunately, Kincaid himself had been unable to join them, forced to stay in Gotham for work. He had to work and work plenty. They were not a rich family, which was why his wife and kids had taken a more scenic route as opposed to flying in.

In fact, they had taken the bus. On a trip that was due back into Gotham tonight. A trip where Kincaid's youngest daughter was so sad that her stuffed toy bunny rabbit did not have a seat on the bus all to itself and would be forced to sit on her lap all the way.

At the sight of that rabbit out on the asphalt, Kincaid could no longer hold back. No amount of policemen or barriers could hold him back anymore. He broke through it all, ignorant to all the shouting that came of it. The police clearly did not like what he was doing, worried about their precious crime scene, but he had to see. From behind the tape, he couldn't see enough. He had to see how things were inside the bus. He had to see _who_ was inside this bus.

When he got there, he dearly wished he hadn't. He collapsed to his knees at the top of the bus's stairs, barely upon turning to look within.

They were there. All five of them. His entire family had been on the bus.

And now his entire family was dead.

"Did you know these people, fella?"

Tears had already erupted from Kincaid's eyes as he slowly tore them away from a sight that would be etched in his vision forever. Through the bleariness of it, he saw a policeman standing there, clearly having chased him to get him out of the cordoned off area. Now, at the sight of his instant and enormous grief, the policeman was making no effort to get rid of him. In fact, he merely looked sad for him.

Yet looking up at that cop did an odd thing to Kincaid. It was apparent that the policeman had given him a few moments before speaking, but it should have been nowhere near enough time for any of the intense sorrow to leave him. And yet, looking up at the cop, something else boiled up in Kincaid.

"They were my family," Kincaid growled, true fury in his tone, despite the tears of despair still flooding out of him. Tears pouring from eyes that burned with a real fire. "Tell me you caught who did this. Tell me you'll bring them to justice."

* * *

"It's done, Sir," the voice spoke from out of the radio. "I hit the bus driver first, just like you wanted. And then everyone else that was there too. They're all dead. So…Do I get paid now?"

"All in good time, my boy, all in good time," Penguin answered, flicking the comm off straight away before the assassin could deliver a riposte. They had just heard everything that they needed to know. The second of Joker's planned attacks had gone off perfectly, not a single Bat in sight. Yet when the Batman eventually heard about it, it would no doubt cut into him deeply, especially with the innocent children involved. But they would be cuts exactly as the plan required. A plan that no longer needed that particular assassin in order for it to reach completion. The focus had to go to the rest now, to those who were still in the game.

"Hoohoo, _what_ a hoot!" Joker chuckled as the signal ended, clapping his hands. "This _is_ a good night! _Hahaha!"_

"Indeed, my chuckling comrade," Penguin returned with a nod. "Indeed. And the next assassin is already in place, ready to continue with your exact specifications. Your plan to finally end our rodent problem shall soon be coming to fruition."

" _That_ was never in any doubt!" Joker suddenly snapped with one of his mood swings, the homicidal maniac taking over from the crazy clown. "Old Batsy was doomed the moment I saw that report on the news. And _your men_ will keep on killing until the time comes for tonight's _grand finale_! You make sure of it, Pengy!"

"You say that as if you are no longer going to be here to do so yourself," Penguin pointed out, picking up on the hidden context behind Joker's words.

"Hahahaha, good spot! Not quite so bird brained after all, eh?" Joker laughed again, resorting back to the clown. "I said it that way because I _won't_ be here for the next ones! They'll on be on you and your _little boys and girls_. Don't let me down now!"

"And where, pray tell, will you be during this time?" Penguin pushed. Joker had to stay involved. This was his plan, his mission, his _responsibility_. Penguin was not about to let him run out on it and put all the risk on him. Nor was he about to lose one of his two desired outcomes. Joker or the Batman. At the end of the night, one of them would be out of his feathers forever.

"Oh, don't worry, Pengy," Joker replied, in a voice that many would deem condescending. "I'm not abandoning the plan. Harley and me just have somewhere else that we need to be. We need to go and put into place _phase two_ of the plan."

"We do, puddin'?" Harley Quinn, the Joker's moll, had been uncharacteristically quiet up until then. Clearly, though, even she wasn't entirely clued up with Joker's plan. That instantly caught Penguin's attention all the more.

" _Yes,_ Harley," Joker snarled out, shutting her up straight away. Harley immediately seemed to back down. Penguin, though, was not afraid of the clown, and he did want as many answers as he could get.

"And may I know what phase two entails?"

"Why the complete destruction of the last people who might have been able to stop us, of course!" Joker answered matter-of-factly. And that was enough for him. No further explanation was forthcoming. Only the laughter. A laughter that did not stop until he had got up and gone out of the door.

* * *

Dead. Dozens of people were dead. Murdered in cold blood, for no reason other than the fact that they were in the wrong place at the wrong time. That, and the whims of a madman and business of a Penguin. If he were another man, a smarter man, Cornelius Maine ought to have been repulsed by such a thought. As things were though, he simply didn't care. Mr. Cobblepot's schemes were still on course. Mr. Cobblepot was happy. And so Cornelius was happy too. All that mattered was the job, and the job was whatever Mr. Cobblepot said it was. Bodyguard, hired goon, assassin, grave digger. There was no task that quarrelled with Maine's minute conscience. But tonight was no different.

Especially now that the clown was gone. Cornelius Maine was not the type of man to be scared of anything, but the Joker completely freaked him out. All of the stories of him were obviously true. It was safe to say that Cornelius never wanted to cross paths with him again. A part of him was even leaning towards the Bat winning again tonight, just to see the Joker defeated once and for all.

"Mighty suspicious, my friend," Penguin chirped from his seat, still perched in the centre of the Iceberg Lounge, staring out the door which the Joker and his gal just exited as if deep in thought. "That the Joker would depart our fine establishment, just as events are beginning to unfurl. Mighty suspicious."

"You think something's going on that we should know about, boss?" Cornelius asked, voicing the extent of Penguin's meaning that he had managed to decipher.

"There is _always_ something more going on that we should know about, my boy," Penguin pointed out, finally taking his eyes off the door and looking at Cornelius down his beak of a nose. "But yes, I believe there is more reason behind the Joker leaving us now than we originally perceived. That, I don't like."

"So what do we do, boss?" Cornelius sought more clarity. "Do we ditch the plan?"

"No, no, no, we keep going," Penguin shook his head. "We stay on course. Our two possible results are _both_ still possible. By the end of this night, we shall be rid of at least one of the clown or the rodent. But in the meantime… Increase the guard on all entrances to the Lounge. See that security is on high alert. You do that, while I arrange our next assault."

"Of course, Mr. Cobblepot," Cornelius gave the affirmative with a nod of his head. He was smart enough not to disobey the Penguin. He was instantly moving off to organise the increased security as ordered, even if he thought it was an unnecessary move. Surely none would be stupid enough to attack the Penguin in the Iceberg Lounge? If Cornelius himself wasn't that dumb, no one should be. Still, that was what the Penguin ordered. And Penguin was no fool.

Which meant that Cornelius couldn't help but wonder; what was the Joker up to now?

* * *

"But puddin', why'd we have to go now? I wanted to hear about more saps getting whacked!"

They were in Joker's car, Harley acting as chauffeur as she often did. It was what the Joker demanded. Just like he had demanded they left the Iceberg Lounge. Harley was complaining, but she couldn't really argue, not with her Mistah J. Hence why they were in the car right now, powering across the city. Still, Harley wanted to know the real reason why. She was deep in this plan herself, after all.

"Because I said it was time, you dope!" Joker snapped back, slapping her around the back of the head and almost making her crash the car. Harley yelped, but then the Joker actually answered her question anyway. "The Justice Dweebs have discovered our _SuperClayMan…Face_. Which means it's time for us to knock the rest of things up a notch."

"They got… SuperClayManFace? Harley repeated, gobsmacked to the extent she couldn't help but repeat the name that Joker had made up for their expert spy. "But… isn't that _bad_ news?"

Joker laughed once again. "Oh, Harley, you idiot! Of _course_ it's not bad news! It's all _a part of the plan_. Exactly the _trigger_ we needed to know when we completely have the attention of the Justice punks. They'll be coming for their _Superfriend_ now. They're just too darn obvious! I didn't even need to turn on that little radio we left hidden buried in the clay to figure that much out. So we need to kick things on and make Batsy _really_ want to cry!"

"If you say so, puddin'…" Harley replied, still not convinced. "But what is it that we're heading off to do? Why couldn't we stay back there to hear about the scum of Gotham suffering while we're at it?"

"Now, Harley, I'd hate to spoil _all_ of the surprises," Joker cackled away. "But let's just say it's time for another couple of _our_ friends to join the party. And besides, you'll still get to hear what our hired guns get up to. That's _your_ job."

" _Mine_?!" Harley erupted in shock, once again almost crashing again, bringing about a squealing horn from the other car she almost hit. "But what about Pengy… the Lounge… the _goons_?"

Inevitably, the Joker found amusement all over again. In between, he just about managed to get some words out, words that were more of a growl. "Methinks old Pengy doth knowst too much. And we'd hate for Batsy to get any _real_ spoilers. We'll need to _take care of that_. It's all been arranged. After all, we're moving towards the VIP section of the game, and Penguin just doesn't make the cut."

Harley couldn't respond to that. She merely gulped. The Joker had resorted to his more homicidal tone again, sounding _very_ serious. Harley had no desire to challenge _that_. This night meant far too much to him. This night was _everything_ to the Joker now. A night that had been his great desire, his _obsession_ for so long now. _This night_ was what her puddin' wanted, so this night, just as he envisaged it, was exactly what her puddin' was going to get. Every bit of it, to the downfall of the Bat.

And all the other downfalls in between. Many, _many_ of them, including some big-name players in the ongoing game of good versus evil.

Downfalls that Harley and Joker were driving off across the city to arrange. Harley dared cast a glance beside her into Joker's face as he stared off into the distance and the hours that lay ahead. Simply put, she was amazed the look he had in his eyes wasn't enough to finish off the Bat on its own.

The Joker definitely meant business. He meant for Batman to truly suffer, irreparably so, to break and twist the B-Man in ways beyond the imaginings of most men. And he didn't care who he had to hurt to make that happen. Friend or foe.

And there were a lot more people who were going to get hurt yet. 'Hammy' Hill, the people on the bus, the super _zeroes_ up in space…

It was all just the beginning.


	16. Chapter 15: Scum and Villany

**Chapter 15: Scum and Villainy**

It was certainly odd standing side by side with Catwoman again, never mind actually working with her. And yet that was the situation Batman found himself in right now, a situation born of necessity. A situation where every second that passed was another second closer to more blood staining the clown's hands. More blood Batman had failed to stop him from spilling.

Selina certainly hadn't forgotten any of her moves in her time away. No doubt she had been practising on all those tempting jewels in the splendour of the European cities. But she hadn't forgotten Gotham either. The nooks and crannies, the tricks, the shadows, the dark. The rooftops, the alleys and the ways. It was like he had stepped back in time, back to the days before the Justice League, the days when he had pursued her several times across the very skyline on which they now stood.

The Batmobile had gotten them close and at speed, but the last stretch had to be taken personally. They had to arrive undetected, and in a manner that would enable them to safely scout what defences they would be up against. A swift grapple had gotten Batman up to the rooftops to make that task easier. Catwoman had refused a lift. Remarkable gymnastics and fancy whip work had done the trick for her instead. Batman certainly remembered all the things that she could do with that whip.

From there, it had been simple for the pair to make their way to their target building, still within the more prosperous area of the towering city. Still, Batman had pieced together exactly where they were heading for before they even got that far. Selina may have used it as her trump card to make him involve her in this, but as soon as she had directed him to bring the Batmobile in this general direction he had figured it out. There were only so many people in Gotham with the resources to help the Joker pull off what he was doing tonight. And those people did not see eye to eye with each other enough to be close neighbours, not without constantly trying to kill one another. That left only one option, once the Batmobile had turned down towards these blocks.

Rupert Thorne.

"I've already been casing this place the last few days. Seeing what kind of security Rupey's got in there. What kind of _safe_. I figured even you wouldn't mind if it was a guy like _him_ that I was robbing."

Catwoman spoke nonchalantly from behind his right shoulder, talking as if the crime she was mentioning was an every day thing. For now, Batman let that slide, instead focusing on the sight before him. Thorne had taken the penthouse back up as his main base of operations these days, despite still having plenty of other property within the city from which he conducted his business. It was a penthouse high up in one of the tallest skyscrapers. Similar to Hamilton Hill's, only even grander. But of course it was. In Gotham, gangsters always held more power than politicians.

Right now, Batman and Catwoman were on the roof of the neighbouring building. With a set of binoculars glued to his eyes, Batman was checking out the whole place. Even with time very much against them, it wouldn't do to charge in there without checking it out for any surprises.

Rupert Thorne was a criminal, pure and simple. He just happened to be a very successful one, a very high profile one. A very _rich_ one. But that didn't mean he was untouchable. The incident of the Batwomen had seen to that. Along with Penguin and Carlton Duquense, Thorne had been caught red-handed smuggling weapons intended for Kasnian rebels. Jail had then laid in wait for him. Unfortunately, keeping men like Thorne in jail in Gotham city was nigh on impossible, no matter how much Batman and allies like Jim Gordon fought to do just that. They had too much power, too much ability to ' _persuade_ ' the judges to see things from their point of view, even after all of this time. And so Thorne had escaped his cell, far earlier than the minimum term he had been assigned it for.

And now he was back in the game. His empire had been there, ready and waiting for him to pick it back up again, right where he had left off. There hadn't even been a usurper trying to lay claim to his power. Thorne had all of that still, right from minute one. He had been using it too. There had been no major incidents yet, nothing that had been done to enable Batman to take Thorne down again, even if several of his men on the street had fallen prey to the Bat. Now, though, that was changing. Now it seemed Batman had the justification to take Thorne out once again.

The tower was tall, as so many were, but there were far taller ones out in the distant skyline. In many ways tere was nothing about the building itself to set it apart from the crowd, with the same Gothic architecture as much of this once proud city. It was the people occupying it that made this place of such interest.

Guards were everywhere, more so than usual with Thorne. That in itself pointed Batman to thinking that the man knew _something_ of what was happening all around them that night. It wasn't only the standard armed goons in trench coats patrolling down by the entrances either, or the ones Batman could spot through several of the buildings many, darkened windows. There were even snipers on the roof, snipers he and Catwoman were having to stay hunched low to keep out of sight of.

"Plenty of guards, but nothing I can't handle," Batman finally growled out in response to Catwoman's earlier point, ignoring her closing remark due to the situation at hand. "Nothing _we_ can't handle. Unless your early scouting through up any other surprises I should be aware of...?"

"Now, Batman, what about how Rupert Thorne operates could possibly surprise you anymore?" Catwoman teased. He wished she would take this more seriously, but he said nothing. In part that was because he could well still need her help and, with her seemingly more than willing to give him it at the minute, he did not want to say anything to drive her away, not when he had run out of any imminent leads of his own. Perhaps mostly though, it was because the comm in his ear was going off all over again.

"Batman, I've got bad news," Barbara's voice rang out on it, still with the added echoing of the cave alongside it. They were not the words Batman wanted to hear her starting with, especially as he still had no idea what was going on up on the Watchtower after the communications blackout mere seconds after the alert that the station was under attack. He still didn't know if he was worrying about nothing, or if Diana and the others were in serious trouble up there… He still wouldn't know either. "There's been another attack. More killings. Another one of Joker's mercenaries has struck. Except it wasn't a high profile figure like an ex-Mayor this time. It was a lowly bus driver. And all of his passengers along with him. Including children…"

Batman instantly felt his jaw clench, his nostrils flare. Even most murderers had limits. A line was so often drawn at children. He was living testament to that. But the Joker wasn't most murderers. He made the rest look like fluffy kittens in comparison. And so he _had_ to be stopped.

"Find him," Batman snarled down the comm line, feeling the anger within growing. Barbara was simply unfortunate to be the one hearing it. "Traffic cams from the scene. Identify the merc. Track them back to him. Use whatever you can get your hands on. But we _find Joker_. We stop this. Now."

"No need to tell me twice. I'll call back as soon as I know more," Barbara's voice replied, the tapping of keys already clearly audible in the background as she complied. "And the same goes if I ever manage to re-establish contact with the guys still up on the Watchtower."

Batman made no attempt to reply to that, seeing no need. Instead, he would focus on the job they had to do. One hand flipped open the compartment on his belt while the other tucked the magnifying lenses away. He had observed Thorne's men long enough. It was time to get in there. It was time to make the man tell him what he knew.

"You know, I've always wondered who it actually is that you talk to when you do that. If nothing else it'd be nice to make sure you've not gone mad and started talking to yourself… Guess I'm not about to find out tonight then."

Batman's actions left Catwoman's words pointless. He was already getting the grapnel ready, the plan of attack already well in mind.

"Follow my lead, Selina. We go in via the roof. We strike quickly, we strike quietly, we strike stealthily. No flamboyance. You wanted to come along, you do this my way."

"Well it'd certainly be nice to see how this plays out from the other side of the chase," Catwoman purred back in response. As she did so, she was drawing her whip again, clearly determined to earn her stay in this. She said she was changing. Perhaps the good in her truly was winning out. "Let's go."

That was all Batman needed. Nothing holding him back, he hit the button to fire the grapnel, immediately swinging over the precipice to Thorne's building.

His goons didn't know what hit them.

* * *

"So you have everything you need. Now guarantee to me that you can handle it."

It wasn't a question. It was a demand. He had given them the guns. He had told them everything they needed to know. He would make sure that they would be sufficiently rewarded. Now his men had to get out there and make it happen.

Rupert Thorne stared down the man heading up the squad of goons, standing in front of him across from his office table. Tonight was the night. He had known this would be a special occasion from the moment that this opportunity had first presented itself. The opportunity to make up for lost time. No one got Rupert Thorne put behind bars and gets away with it. And it seemed that Rupert Thorne was not the only one that runt of a man had crossed. Someone else wanted him dead too. Hiring Thorne's men to do it was the perfect way for it. For both of them.

"Sure thing boss," his henchman answered. There was no hesitancy at all, no doubts in his voice. Of course, he had done enough of these jobs by now to know that such things would _not_ be well appreciated. "Most of the boys are already out there and ready to go. They go in in thirty, whether we join 'em and confirm the order or not. Don't worry, we know how much you want this. We'll take care of the bird."

"You'd better!" Thorne barked, unable to contain himself. He was so looking forward to hearing the news of a successful night. It had consumed him, taking over his mind of late. Things could be happening right under his very nose and he would miss them tonight, so obsessed was he with this. "After what I had to go through for being stupid enough to put in with him on the Kasnian deal I–"

Thorne did not finish his sentence. He wasn't quite as oblivious to his surroundings as he had thought he may have become. Even at the start of another rant about the past, he heard the noise. He heard the thud. The thud that sounded remarkably like an unconscious body unceremoniously crashing to the floor out in the corridor beyond this room. But the only people who should be out there were his bodyguards and cronies. Instantly and with all else forgotten, Thorne yanked open the drawer on his desk, pulling out his gun and standing to level it on the doorway, all in one fluid motion.

But he never got a chance to fire. The metal object hit first, slamming hard and cutting deep, right into the wrist that held the gun. He dropped the weapon instantly having not even had the chance to fire it, howling in momentary pain. It was almost like it had been thrown before the doors had even opened.

The _bat_ shaped object.

Blast. It was _him_.

* * *

It may not have been long since the last bout, but it felt particularly good to be beating the crap out of these thugs. Perhaps the good guys _could_ have fun in this world too. And a purpose.

Catwoman acted fast, a blur. She had to admit, Batman certainly knew what he was doing. She was used to sneaking, to getting in and out of places undetected, unhindered. She was even used to having to fight her way out whenever necessary. Fighting off all of the badguys so that they could be sure of a private, uninterrupted audience with Thorne, that was a new one on her. But it was one that was certainly working.

The guys on the roof had been no trouble at all, especially as none of them had seen them coming. From then on in, things had been simple. These guys may be good for standard muscle, but neither Catwoman nor Batman were standard. Floor by floor, they had taken out every goon that stood in their way. Now, they were right outside Thorne's private den. Now they were practically there.

Leaping in the air, Catwoman spun, delivering a kick hard and fast. The heel of her boot struck, right into the temple of the nearest thug. He would have howled out if he had still been conscious. As soon as she landed, Catwoman made sure that the goon's last friend went down too. She allowed the old adage to ring false by not landing on her feet, instead dropping flat to the ground. However, she kept one arm out, one wrist holding her torso high. But only one wrist. The other was busy. The other was lashing the whip out, sweeping it around the floor. The whip cracked hard into the ankles of the second thug, hard enough to take his feet out from under him. Barely had the man hit the deck than Catwoman was pivoting around on the floor. Soon she was crashing down on top of him. Once there, it was time for her to show off her claws.

"Cat scratch fever boys," she purred down at the man now unconscious beneath her. "You need to be more careful."

Her taunt went unheard, but she still felt good for saying it. With no more thugs still standing out here, Catwoman took a moment to survey the damage, looking back the way that they had come. There were several of them out there, littering the corridor floors like discarded trash. Looking onwards to what lay next, though, was an even better sight.

The grand double doors to Thorne's innermost sanctum had been thrown open. Batman had gone on ahead. He was in there. He had taken care of all the thugs who had stayed in the deepest depths to guard their master. And now he was starting to round on a limp wristed Rupert Thorne. This Catwoman had to see. Immediately she stepped up, slinking forwards into the room as Batman grabbed hold of Thorne's shirt collars from where he had timidly fallen behind his main desk. As Catwoman entered, one of the thugs Batman must have taken down groaned, beginning to push back up. A swift kick from Catwoman as she passed by made sure he stayed down. She didn't take her eyes off Batman though. Now he had Thorne up in the air, literally hoisted by his own petard.

"Start talking Thorne!" Batman growled at him, real thunder in his voice, anger. A true sense was coming from him that there just might be no limits to what he might do to make Thorne talk. It was a good job that not many people out there knew the Bat like Catwoman did. She wasn't the only pussy cat in the room, deep down at least. "Not even you pull this many men together for nothing! What were you preparing to do? What was the job?! _Who_ was the job?!"

Batman physically slammed Thorne into the thick glass window behind him with that last world. In fact, if Thorne hadn't no doubt reinforced the thing in case of someone taking a shot at him, the man's huge bulk may well have just gone through it. But you didn't get to be one of the premier mob bosses in one of the roughest cities on the planet by being easily intimidated. To his credit, Thorne held firm.

"Who indeed," he uttered, as calmly as he possibly could under the circumstances. In particular, his eyes seemed to fall on the fact that he and Batman were not alone. "Interesting company you're keeping these days. Could it be that the noble bat has finally fallen on the side of money and power? Come to try and rob me blind have you?"

"But that implies there's something here worth taking, Rupey." Catwoman didn't wait for Batman to make the retort, instead making her own. She was practically at the Bat's side now, but she had looked around the room as she marched there. She had looked at the paintings, at all of the shiny things, at the safe. They were certainly tempting, even if she was changed, even if they weren't enough anymore. But they weren't why she was here. She was being a good girl for once. She was here to help the Bat stop the Joker and keep people alive. Hitting Thorne where it hurt – his wallet and his ego – was going to be one hell of a way to do that. "I'd barely get two dimes for this lot at a car boot sale, never mind millions fencing it to the usual crowd. You don't really think we'd go through all the effort of getting in here for _these_ bits did you?"

"Information, Thorne!" Batman stepped back in, finally delivering what he had wanted to say before Catwoman took over. He had not stopped staring Thorne down as he had waiting. Having been struck by fury at having what must be his prized assets slandered, Thorne was more off guard this time when the thunderous voice belted his way. Catwoman could literally see him tremble for a moment, before he got his façade back up. That made her smirk. "It's all we want from you, and it's all you're good for. I know you're involved in what's happening tonight. You're going to tell me why, and you're going to tell me how. And then you're going to tell me where he is."

This time Thorne took his time before replying. Still hung up in Batman's grasp, his brow furrowed, a clear sign of a man weighing up his options. Catwoman didn't like that. The way this gig was sold to her, there wasn't time for Thorne to stop and ponder.

"Come on Rupert. I _know_ the cat's not got your tongue…"

"You can't get me on anything," Thorne finally mused, as if it was some sort of great epiphany. "There's no physical evidence. You've got nothing but hearsay or conjecture, nothing that you could give to the police to try again to hold me. You've got nothing to send me back to jail."

"Who said I was thinking about sending you to jail?" Batman asked the question that was laced with threat, squeezing Thorne's collar ever tighter to make the point even more clear. "There are no police here. They've no idea you're even involved. But as much as that means no jail, it means no rules. Do you appreciate being able to hold your own tumbler of whiskey Thorne? You will even more once you've got two fractured wrists."

"You don't scare me, Batman!" Thorne quickly barked, his tone contradictory to his words. "You can't touch me! You can't break me!"

"Sure he can," Catwoman teased, reaching one clawed finger forward. Slowly she scratched down Thorne's cheek, not enough to cut him but enough to make sure he felt it. "After all, you've already noticed the company he's in this time. I'm hardly the type to go running to the policy after you very nastily fell down the stairs."

"Talk Thorne!" Batman reiterated, the questioner in their interrogative double act. The only thing was, in this case there was no such thing as the good cop, just the bad and the worse one. "We know that someone out there has been hiring mercenaries for an assault on Gotham tonight. We've heard it was you. And I'm _not_ happy about it. Now. _Where is he_?!"

This time, though, Thorne did not act scared at the raging demand. This time, he laughed.

"You think that was me?" he spluttered through it. "You're not as all-knowing as you like to make out Batman! I don't need _mercenaries_! My men work on loyalty. Only lesser men take on mercs!"

" _Who_?!" Batman did not react well to Thorne's laughter. Pulling Thorne forward, he then slammed him ever harder against the window pane, Catwoman hearing the crack. "Who hired them? And if it's not you, what were your men preparing for tonight?"

The fear was back in Thorne's eyes. Once again, Thorne paused before answering, though this time it was because his eyes momentarily wandered. Catwoman followed them. They had fallen on the clock. That wasn't the best of signs.

"What the hell, it should be too late for you to get in the way now anyway," Thorne finally answered. "And like I said, you can't do anything to me... So... Both your questions have the same answer. Oswald. Chesterfield. Cobblepot. _The Penguin._ He's the one sweeping up every mercenary this rat infested city has to offer. I heard about it on the grapevine, and I figured it was bad news. I'm sure you vividly remember our little _misunderstanding_ a while back, those gun running charges levied against both myself and the runt of a bird. It doesn't matter that all the evidence was destroyed or that Duquense's testimony was invalidated, that little incident taught me not to get caught up in a Penguin's nest. There had been good business there, but Cobblepot ruined everything. He ruined the op, he failed to protect the shipments, he got us _both_ into trouble with an entire nation's worth of gunmen, gunmen who may well have come after us if not for a well-timed civil war. In all that followed, I didn't let Penguin forget that I knew he had failed. That made him angry, but I'll be damned if I gave him the satisfaction of dominance. He has too much power over the underworld of this city already, _undeserved_ power. I made it clear to him that I felt that way, that I thought the Gotham underworld needs _new leadership_. The next thing I hear, the Penguin is hiring mercenary's non-stop. Naturally I put two and two together. I figured Penguin was coming after me. And so I figured on a pre-emptive strike. There's a reason I steer clear of mercenaries. I was only half way through planning the attack, when one of those mercs showed their disloyalty. A man approached me, anonymously, but they were a source credible all the same. They gave me information, information all about the Iceberg Lounge, its security, its guards. Its points of access. You wanted to know what's going down tonight, Bat? Tonight, the Penguin _dies_."

Wow. There was an awful lot of criminal speak in there, words with double meanings from a man well versed in describing terrible acts in everyday terms so as to protect himself. But that was clearly old habits. There was also an awful lot of bluntness in there too, bluntness that Catwoman for one had not been expecting. Batman, though, didn't miss a beat, retorting with the same question that was coming to Catwoman's own mind.

"An anonymous man came to you revealing how to take down the Penguin. Have you never stopped to think what would happen when one of your men goes to one of your enemies – Two-Face, for example – revealing how to take you out too?"

"It would never happen," Thorne defiantly pouted, voice firm again. "Only a madman would betray _me_ like that!"

"And only a madman would betray the Penguin, too."

That was the moment that realisation struck Thorne. Neither Batman nor Catwoman had revealed to him the source of the trouble. They hadn't told him about what was really going on out in the city, about what all of those mercenaries that had been hired were doing, about all of the deaths. At first they had thought he already knew, but it was only now dawning on him. They had not told him that all of this was being orchestrated by the Joker.

Even the most hardened of criminals had come to fear that name. From the way his eyes widened, Thorne was obviously one of those. Now he realised what Batman meant. Now he realised just who that anonymous tipster had been, or whose orders they had been following. Now he was thinking that someone betraying him just as someone had betrayed the Penguin may not be as impossible as he had first thought. The Joker truly was crime's clown prince.

Out of nowhere, Batman suddenly dropped Thorne down to the ground. Thorne was still too caught up in what he had just heard to react, at least not quickly enough. Before Thorne knew it, Batman had the handcuffs out of his utility belt, one end locked to Thorne's wrist, the other against the metallic frame around the windows. Batman then didn't wait around. Turning, he began striding out of there. Once he finally caught up to what was happening, Thorne started barking after him, the usual spiel of trying to use his power to intimidate his captor into releasing the handcuffs. He should have known better than to intimidate the Batman. He never looked back, not to Thorne. When he did stop in the doorway to this office, it was instead to look at Catwoman.

"Are you coming?"

Catwoman didn't move right away. Instead she took in all that was going on around her. In particular, her eyes drifted back to all those shiny things in the room, shiny things ripe for the taking. But then she felt the pull, the desire. She felt what her gut was telling her to do. And it wasn't the old favourite. It wasn't to get out there and take those things. It was, very simply, to follow the Batman. She really was changing. She couldn't believe it herself, but she was actually acting with motives that were almost _heroic_. When she looked back to Thorne, he fell silent. All she could do was give him a condescending shrug. Then she was hot on Batman's heels. With that, Thorne started shouting after her too, issuing all manner of threats her way. Catwoman simply shut the doors behind her.

"So we're going after the Penguin now I take it?" she purred as she fell into step beside Batman, both of them now striding out past all the unconscious goons still in the corridor, heading back out the way they had come. Catwoman hadn't failed to notice that simply by asking her the question, Batman was keeping her with him in this. Despite the fact that her one source of information had run dry, he still wanted her there to help go after the next lead. Perhaps his new lady was managing to bring out that pussy cat in him in ways that she had never managed. Good on her.

"We've got to," Batman answered her, not breaking step. The anger that had lined his voice when talking to Thorne was gone. Instead, he was all business-like again. "Thorne was clearly shocked to hear that the Joker is involved in this, which tells us he doesn't know anymore that can help. But if Penguin was the one hiring the mercs that Joker's using to attack the city, then _Penguin_ knows more. Maybe even where the Joker is, or what is end game in all this will be. So we need to go and make Penguin talk. Joker must have seen this coming. That's why he's trying to use Thorne to take Penguin out and silence him, before we could follow the trail there. But Thorne's men are already on their way. In this night of death, we've got to go and save the King of Gotham's underworld, so that he can tell us how to stop the Joker and save the rest of the city.

"We've got to go save the Penguin."


	17. Chapter 16: Red Sky at Night

**Chapter 16: Red Sky at Night**

* * *

 ** _A/N:_**

 ** _Did someone say a Justice League story where Superman had been kept hidden until November '17...? Well here we go, in celebration of being just a week away from the big screens..._**

 ** _Not said it the last couple of postings, but the rules still apply. Please keep on reviewing away friends. Updates are more likely to come in quicker as that review counter ticks ever higher!_**

 ** _And besides, think of doing it as helping you tick over to the big moment. And together we can be All In! Booyah!_**

* * *

The green aura around them all disappeared as they touched down to the concrete ground. It hadn't taken them long to get here, even without the use of the Watchtower's teleporter. They had made their way here courtesy of Green Lantern's ring. But Wonder Woman would have felt much happier if they still had the extra minutes that beaming down would have given them, relatively speaking. After all, the way things were going, every second counted. They had lost too many friends already tonight. They couldn't lose the best ones too.

They may have just left space, but this place wasn't much brighter. The dull glow of the orange street lamps did shine down on them though, illuminating all the stream of falling raindrops pelting down on top of them. As she took in her surroundings, though, Wonder Woman barely noticed that rain. Her focus was on what she was here to do, and the still stinging emotions of death. That left the weather completely irrelevant to her, a fact exacerbated a moment later. Once she had identified which building was the target, there was nothing else catching her eye.

It wasn't exactly a factory warehouse, but it was a building more of that ilk. In fact, it looked like a place that had once been some sort of workshop, only to have long since closed down. It was scruffy, its corrugated metal walls rusting over. Dirt and grime ran riot over the structure that was still bigger than three or four houses placed back to back. The place looked clearly abandoned. It also looked like exactly the sort of place that the Joker was known to use as a base.

It looked like exactly the sort of place where the Joker might be holding Superman.

"No sign of Bats Junior yet." Flash's comment finally made Wonder Woman look away from that building. The Scarlet Speedster had recovered from the sore head that Clayface had left him with enough to join her, GL and Shayera on this. In fact, they couldn't keep him away, not when Superman might need them. Flash had a point though. Quickly looking around, Robin was nowhere to be seen. "I thought you said Nightwing was sending him our way?"

"Actually, I've been waiting for you for two minutes now. And I know time is of the essence, but since I beat you here, does that make me the fastest man alive now?"

The voice spoke from somewhere behind them, somewhere in the shadows. Before any of the four of them could even begin to turn to try and spot exactly where, the human form was bounding into view. Leaping over their heads, he somersaulted past them, perfecting the landing. Then he slowly stood up, a smirk on his face showing he was quite proud of himself. After all, he was still so young. It wasn't every day that he got to show off his skill to four of the strongest and most revered heroes on the planet.

He really was still a boy, but one who had already more than proved himself. He stood there, so proud in his red, yellow and black uniform, grinning away. Diana knew he had already known hardships in his life, but the exuberance and joy of youth had not left him. It seemed even the grim world of fighting for justice in Gotham city hadn't taken it away from him. That was encouraging to see.

Wonder Woman had heard all about him of course. She had seen the photos at Wayne Manor in order to know what he looked like under that mask. She knew that in actual fact his name was Tim Drake. Yet this was the first time she had ever actually met him. Bruce had probably planned to keep them separate, for whatever reason, even though he would have known that he wouldn't be able to keep things that way forever. This certainly wasn't how Diana had planned on meeting another one of those so important in Bruce's life either.

"He sure starts them young, doesn't he?" Shayera muttered at the sight of Robin standing before them, saying it as if Robin wasn't there to hear. At the same time, Flash was still spluttering over the quip at his expense, his comeback retort clearly lost on him.

"From what I hear of the kid's talent, I'd say that was for good reason," GL answered, with more tact. He even stepped forward, clapping Robin on the shoulder. "Good to have you with us, kid. We can do the proper hellos when this is all over, but I assume Batman's other disciple has already let you know what's at stake here?"

"Yeah, he just about managed to squeeze it in between the school bell and when Uncle Alfred had to tuck me in for bedtime," Robin quipped, obviously reacting to them both referring to his age. There was a defiance and steel to him, just like there was in Bruce. From the looks on their faces, everyone got the message. They wouldn't be calling him ' _kid_ ' again next time. "He told me that Superman's in there and that he's in trouble. And that it's all tied in with whatever Joker's unleashing in Gotham right about now. The mess that means I'm stuck _here_. All of which means I think it's time you guys followed me on in there."

"Now that's the first thing you've said that I've liked the sound of!" Flash declared at the words. Of all of them, he was the one still suffering the most from what had happened on the Watchtower. To say he was desperate to save everyone else would be an understatement. In fact, he was already looking ready to sprint right on into that building at the kinds of speeds only he could manage. "Let's g–!"

"Woah!" Robin quickly grabbed hold of Flash to stop him. "Haven't you guys ever dealt with the Joker before? We've got to expect the unexpected in there. If Joker put enough into this place to make it able to hold Superman, it's probably a safe bet he's left a death trap or two ready for anyone who comes to try and save him. We might be in a hurry, but we've gotta do this slow and careful. Running on in headfirst is a good way to get yourself killed. Even if you're running at the speed of light."

"You really _are_ Bats junior, aren't you?" Flash moaned under his breath, looking slightly downtrodden. Wonder Woman, though, kept on with the plan.

"We'll follow your lead Robin," she told him, trying to settle things down as much as she could. "You're our expert on this, that's why Nightwing sent you here. How should we proceed?"

"This place is going to be big," Robin quickly answered, taking charge with a will beyond his years. "Since we're in a hurry, I suggest we split up. Lantern, you're ring will be very handy for finding things in there and taking any traps out of play. And for keeping you alive. You take Skippy here and keep him safe. He's more likely to listen to you anyway. Wonder Woman, er… _Shayera_ , these days isn't it? You guys had better come with me. A third set of eyes always comes in handy."

Shayera held her mace up on hearing that, lighting it up with its electrical glow. It was signal enough, but her words just made it sure. "Then let's go."

* * *

They had already been trawling through the building for at least twenty minutes before they found this room. The building really did seem deserted. Plenty of empty corridors had laid before them, empty rooms too, all of them thus far booby trap free. They had also all been Superman free. Completely free of any sign of the Joker's influence too. This room, though... This room had his mark all over it.

It had caught the attention of all three of them as soon as they had glimpsed it through the open doorway. That had been enough to make Robin instantly put them all on alert, but they still had to go on in. They still had to investigate, looking for any hint as to exactly where Superman was being held. Clayface had described the cell with the red sunlight when he had been interrogated. That cell had to be around here somewhere, and this room was their best bet for it yet.

The room was square, larger than all the others ones they had checked out in the building. It was deep in the heart of the place, meaning there wasn't a single window in there. What there was was boxes. Lots of boxes. Boxes whose contents were overflowing. Contents including playing cards, bang flags, vats of acid, boxing gloves, giant mallets, 'presents' with their special contents, the lot. Giant red smiles had even been painted all over the walls. This was the Joker's stores for all his favourite goodies. And if the Joker had used this room, he might just have left something useful behind too. A clue so that they could help save Superman, or a clue so that they could somehow help Bruce. After ten minutes of searching to no avail, however, the patience needed for that hunt was wearing thin.

"I don't know about you, but to me it doesn't look like there's any crate in here big enough for a Superman sized prison cell," Shayera was the first to moan, though Wonder Woman certainly understood where she was coming from. Batman, for one, had previously complained about her lack of patience, so that wasn't much of a surprise. As far as Diana was concerned, she had stared into these crates for long enough. Not only was it hard to feel as if she was delving into the madness that was the Joker with each box she went into, but it was now getting ever clearer to her that there was nothing else here. "There's plenty more rooms in this place we still have to check, and I'm starting to think we've got one heck of a red herring on our hands here."

"I agree with Shayera. This room isn't going anywhere. I suggest we investigate other places and come back here if needs be," Wonder Woman voiced her concurrence. Robin looked up at that point, having been elbow deep in a crate himself. He even started to slowly nod.

"Alright, I suppose," Robin accepted their point of view. There was a hint in his voice that he didn't entirely agree, but not enough to stop him from going along with it. "I did say expect the unexpected. Perhaps hoping to find something we can follow back to the Joker and Superman in a room filled with such obvious road signs was a little _too_ expected to fit the pattern. Alright, put down your finds. We're moving out.

Robin acted on his words straight away. Wonder Woman was soon following suit, putting down her own latest item of interest. Teddy bears. The Joker had a crate of _teddy bears_ in there for Hera's sake. Wonder Woman had had one in hand, looking at the thing as if it housed some great secret. It was only as she put it back down, ready to make to leave, that she saw it. It was only then that she saw the red glint in the stuffed animal's eye. The laser. No. The _motion sensor._ Immediately, she understood. Immediately, she knew that they were in trouble. But things happened so fast. She didn't have time to warn the others, or chastise herself for not spotting it sooner. In the end, there was only one thing she could say.

"Uh oh…"

But her words were drowned out by another sound. A sound that meant Robin and Shayera got no warning of what was coming. _Expect the unexpected._ Of all the potential weapons in here, of course it would be the teddy bear…

The clang rang out fiercely, the scraping of metal on metal. Wonder Woman swung around, staring for the source of the noise. The other two did exactly the same. All three of them then saw it. They all saw the heavy blast door closing, right over the one exit to this room. A blast door clearly intended to trap them in, in a building already known to have a cell strong enough to hold Superman. A building of the Joker's, one of the deadliest men around.

Only Shayera was close enough and quick enough to do anything about it. Darting forward and with one of her trademark war cries, the Thanagarian flung her mace forward. It wasn't to smash the door in though. It was simply to catch the thing. There wasn't time for anything else. The door was practically down. Utilising the strength of the Nth metal, Shayera rammed the ball of the mace into the merest fraction of a gap that remained. Just about, she managed to catch the door. Metal on metal, the mace held firm. The gap was small, too small for them to get through, but Shayera had bought them a gap.

But the next second there was another sound. Clearly this was why the room sealed in the first place. It was some sort of defence system. A _deadly_ defence system. The sound was a hiss, a constant hiss. A hiss coming from the ceiling. Wonder Woman instantly looked up. It was then that she saw the green smog, the gas seeping into the room.

"Smilex!" Robin bellowed, catching the exact same sight. "Everyone down! And I sure hope you guys can hold your breath real good!"

Wonder Woman understood Robin's plan. With Shayera keeping the door open, she had kept the room ventilated. It was a basic rule of science. Gas dissipates. It spreads. If it's heavy, it sinks and spreads low. If it's light, it spreads high. Either way, with that door still open, the gas wouldn't get them if they stayed low and could keep from breathing in until it passed. It was a good plan, in principal. But that was without the second little surprise.

The side of one of the boxes suddenly dropped, one of the boxes that they were yet to check. The sound of the wood crashing down distracted Wonder Woman before she could even hit the deck. It was because of that that she saw them.

The teeth. The chattering teeth. The teeth omitting horrible laughter. The teeth walking on wind-up legs. The teeth walking forth out of the crate, ready to cover the entire floor of the room.

The sets of teeth that were all packed with explosives.

She could see Robin's eyes widen in horror just beside her. Those teeth were set to blow. The explosives on them looked limited, small scale, but they were enough. They were enough to mean that staying low was no longer safe. They were enough to mean that _nowhere_ in the room was safe anymore.

Wonder Woman acted on impulse. She acted fast. She acted out of her own wisdom. There was another scientific rule about gases that she knew. A lot of them burnt.

The lasso was off her hip and in her hand before she knew it. It was one hell of a throw of it that she mustered. The noose tightened, tightened on several sets of those chattering teeth. Tightened on all of the ones she needed it to tighten on. But that wasn't the end of it. She kept on swinging. She swung the lasso hard, loosening the noose at exactly the right moment. Then the teeth flew, flew up into the air. Flew up into the seeping gas.

Barely a second later, those teeth blew.

Yet Wonder Woman still could not stop there. The fires were building, building faster than it took to blink. Fires that could spread even faster than the gas.

She flung herself forward, literally taking air. Flying hard, she crashed into Robin, sweeping him up with her. She did not stop until they were both over Shayera. She kept Robin beneath her the whole way, with Shayera then under him, her back to the ceiling. Her back to the flames. Even as she felt the heat hit her, the remaining sets of teeth on the ground were blowing too, blowing in a frame around Shayera, all the ones that would have caught her those that went up in the air. The room had become a cacophony of fire.

It was a good job then, that Wonder Woman was so endurable. The gas had not reached down to the ground yet, and neither were the teeth in range. That meant that there was one safe place in the room, and it was the one that they were in. Still, if either of the others had been on top of the pile, burns would easily have been on the cards, especially with Shayera's wings. But as the fires began to die down around them, as the last of the deadly Joker Toxin burnt away, Wonder Woman knew that it had worked. She was toasty, but otherwise unharmed.

They all were.

Slowly Diana rolled off of the other two, satisfied that they were alright. As she stood once more, she finally surveyed the damage. The scent of scorching pierced the air, tampered in a way by the walls that did not burn easily, but exacerbated in others by the easily burnt crates and contents. It was a good job the fires had not lasted long in the airs, the gas holding them gone fast. It meant that the remaining hints of flames on those crates were easy to finish off.

"That was an awful intense set of defences for a _storeroom_ ," Shayera commented, standing herself but leaving her mace where it was, holding the door ajar. She checked her wings as she stood, the feather's ruffled after the hurried, necessary pile on but otherwise okay.

"Too intense," Robin concurred. He was already up himself, nodding Wonder Woman's way in thanks as he passed her by. Diana smiled back at him. His act was unneeded, but it was also pleasing to see, especially from someone learning from Batman's example. It was nice to see he was picking out the lesser qualities from the greater. Whether Robin noticed her smile or not was unclear though. His focus was all on one of those singed crates instead. The exact same one that Wonder Woman had been looking in before those defences had all kicked off. From it, he even withdrew the exact same bear. The next second, Robin was ripping the bear's head off.

"Looks like someone didn't get enough playtime growing up, if that's how he handles his toys," Shayera reacted to the extreme act. Both she and Wonder Woman stood side by side, watching Robin's every act.

"And that someone is whoever took Paddington here and jammed all these gizmos down his throat," Robin answered, holding up the bear for all to see. Wonder Woman could see the flashing lights in there, the machinery. The fur of the bear had turned black, but that gear, it still looked active. Now Wonder Woman understood what Robin was doing. There had to be some link, some remote connection from the bear. It had set off the defences of this room. There had to be some control system linking the two. And if that was some sort of computer system, the bear was Robin's way into it. And if he got into the control systems, then it just might be their way to Superman. After all, Robin and Shayera were right. The defences _were_ too strong for this to just be a storeroom…

It didn't take Robin long. He pulled some form of remote hacking device from his utility belt. From there, nothing seemed to be stood in his way. In no time, there was the reaction.

Once again, the rumbling of a moving door filled the room, only this time it wasn't a blast door closing. It was the secret passage _opening_. Even to Wonder Woman's well-honed eyes, the joint had been invisible. But as the panels slid away into the depths of the rest of the walls, the hidden chamber beyond struck them, plain as day. There was indeed the computer system in there, the controls for the room's defences. But that wasn't all. That wasn't what completely held Wonder Woman's eye.

The lights in there were red. Bright red. Square walls of practically pure energy, walls that were clearly a cage.

A cage that held Superman.

"Diana…?" Superman breathed her name as soon as he saw her, his eyes slowly tilting upwards to stare her, having been sunken to the floor. The light had clearly caught his eye, but he looked weak. He sounded weak. The red light must have been on him a long time. Hera, how long had the Joker had him here? What had the clown done to him? On a regular person, the sight of them so weak would have been bad enough. On the vast majority of superheroes it would have been bad enough. But on Superman, practically the strongest man on the planet? It was horrific. "Shayera… _Robin…?_ "

"Easy big guy, I'm getting you out." Robin was quick to act. He clearly didn't like what he was seeing any more than Wonder Woman did. Immediately he was rushing to that computer, starting to hit the buttons to find a way to drop that energy shield and free Superman of the cell and its weakening effect on him. At the same time, Shayera was acting too, stepping back slightly to signal to GL and Flash that they'd found Superman. As for Wonder Woman, there was only one thing she could do. Immediately she was stepping forward to the edge of that cell, ready to help her friend the instant that she could. Her compassion had gone into overdrive.

But that didn't mean she didn't also notice that something about this whole thing felt off. It went beyond the fact that the Joker, just an ordinary and very insane man, had somehow trapped and held Superman. Something wasn't quite right about this scene…

But then, nothing was right about any of this. From the moment that Black Canary's alert had gone off in the Watchtower, 'right' had been something that they just hadn't had any sight of.

All such thoughts fell away forgotten when the light died, taking the energy shield with it. Immediately Superman made to move, but the simple fact of the matter was that he wasn't strong enough yet. He was zapped, drained to the point of weakness. Now that artificial red sunlight was gone, that would all change soon, but he needed time to regain his strength. In the meantime, Wonder Woman was there for him, as any good friend would be. Rushing in, she caught him before he hit the deck.

"Take it easy, we've got you. You need to take a moment to regain your strength," she attempted to sooth him. The whole thing was far from over, but Wonder Woman knew that this was the signal that it was time to stop and catch their breath. Superman, though, seemed to know differently. He was immediately pushing up again, immediately pushing as if to get out of there, as if to get straight down to business. Soon he made it clear why.

"We can't stop. That madman has Lois."

* * *

 _I don't even know how long ago it was anymore. Being stuck in here without even a wall to scratch the tally in, I've lost track of the days. But it was_ too _long ago. He's had her for too long, and he could her done lord knows what to her by now._

 _It had been a fairly normal day. Another Metropolis day that I'd been out there saving. But the evening was meant to be special. It was the anniversary, the anniversary of the day Lois and I first met. A day that had gotten even more special after I finally told her who I really was. That night, we were supposed to celebrate that fact._

 _Perhaps I was a little distracted as I flew home. I_ know _I was distracted. My head was metaphorically in the clouds, as well as literally being there. That was why I didn't notice it straight away. That was why I went in as if everything was normal, instead of picking up the signs. Sure they covered their tracks well. Anyone else, anyone normal, would have had no chance of spotting it. But me… I should have_ heard _things weren't right._

 _But I didn't, because I wasn't listening. I landed on the balcony of our new apartment like I did every day. I ventured inside as if everything was normal. I could see her in there. I could see she was alone. And so I smiled. I was happy. I walked towards her, where she stood in the living room, her back to me. I called out to her, attempting to get her attention, in full knowledge that she would already know I was there. I didn't have the chance to give her a loving surprise._

 _But I certainly received a terrible one. My first clue came then, with her reaction to my call. Or her lack of reaction, more accurately. It was unlike Lois. Totally._

"You're not Lois," _I said. Then it began to happen before my eyes. The Lois shape before me suddenly began to bubble and change. To become_ mud _. It was Clayface. It wasn't Lois at all._

 _But Clayface wasn't alone. The room wasn't as empty as I had thought. It was then that I heard the laughter._

 _I'd been so caught up in Lois that I hadn't noticed it as I had entered. The box of lead. The_ coffin _of lead, propped up against the side wall. The coffin from which the madman had emerged, cackling away. Cackling away with the Kryptonite clutched firmly in his hand._

 _I felt it immediately. I collapsed immediately, the madman kicking me when I was down, the clay pinning me further. I felt myself blacking out then, but with my last ounce of strength I demanded to know. I demanded to know where Lois was. And he confirmed it. She was in his hands. She was his prisoner._

 _And so was I. When I awoke, I was here. But Lois wasn't. And neither was the Joker._

* * *

"He has her, Diana. _The Joker_ has Lois. It doesn't matter that I'm weak. There's no telling what that man might do. We can't afford to wait. We have to save her!"

Once again, Superman made to move, but it was a move reliant on a strength he still did not have yet. Wonder Woman had to catch him, to hold onto him and stop him falling back to his knees. She certainly understood his hurry though, now that he had told his story. He was right, in every way. If Joker had Lois… It was not good news. But in this state, Superman would not be able to pursue anybody. Before Wonder Woman could figure out what to do next, however, the sound of a distant door groaning broke through once again.

The giant hand made of green light was already fading by the time that Wonder Woman looked up again. The blast door that Shayera had previously caught on her mace was gone the way it had come, Shayera retrieving the weapon from the ground.

"How'd you manage to get here so fast?" she asked the two men now stood right beside her. "Robin told you not to run."

"Ever heard of zorbs?" Flash answered her rapidly, defending himself before taking in what was before his eyes. "Glowing green ones are _so_ cool."

"Says you. The rate you went, now I know what it would feel like to be trapped in a tumble dryer," Lantern quipped his own response, but much more gruffly. He even looked a little quesy. Finally though, he was the first of the pair to look up. "Superman!"

"Big guy, you're okay!" Flash exclaimed with a squeal as he finally looked up again. He didn't wait around, zipping to be at Superman's side in the blink of an eye. His relief was more than evident as he hugged the man still held in Wonder Woman's grasp.

"Flash, as much as I appreciate it, we've got to g–" Superman began to say, continuing his push to get moving, to get to Lois. However, Lantern did not allow him to finish the sentence.

"Hold it. My ring's picking up something. An incoming signal coming in to somewhere in this room. There's someone else here…"

It came from nothing. It happened out of nowhere. And it suddenly made sense. Suddenly Wonder Woman understood why things had felt off earlier. That light… It had just been _light_. It wasn't artificial sunlight at all. There hadn't been any radiation. There hadn't been anything there to sap Superman's power. It was just an ordinary red bulb...

Which meant that Superman had lied.

Caught off guard, Superman burst from her arms. Even quicker than Flash had been earlier, he was by Green Lantern's side. Only he hadn't made the move at super speed for a hug, as Flash had. With one hand snatching out, two things soon filled the air. Sparks of green, and GLs scream. Using all of his phenomenal strength and before anyone could act, Superman had just crushed his hand, ring and all.

"Let him go Hatter!"

It was Robin that made the call, the youngster having almost been forgotten about those last moments. Wonder Woman was still trying to react, unable to believe what she had just seen, but ready to rush to Lantern's aid should Superman try anything more. With Robin's call though, she saw he was looking behind her, batarang held in his hand and ready to throw. At the same time, Superman released his crushing hold over GL, all eyes following Robin's. Only once GL was released did Wonder Woman dare to turn too. And then she saw him.

The Mad Hatter.

She had never encountered him before, but she knew all about his story. A man who couldn't accept that the woman he loved would never reciprocate the feeling as he so desired, and so had tried to force her to. Mind control. A form of computer chip which, when in proximity to a person's brain, could give the Hatter complete control of them. Only these days the squat little man was not limited to the pursuit of one woman. These days, he was all about the crimes. And the madness.

Once again, Wonder Woman had been right earlier. Superman being in Joker's hands so long had been very bad news. And now, clearly, the Mad Hatter had Superman under his thumb.

"Just as when you present dear Alice with a riddle, I'm afraid dearest Superman missed out a crucial piece of information from his tale," the Hatter mocked from where he stood, his massive array of teeth fully on show. He had emerged from another hidden chamber, even deeper into the one that had held Superman, behind another hidden wall. Expect the unexpected, Robin had said. Or to put it simpler, Wonder Woman should have expected that it had all been too easy. With a captive Superman held in secret chambers guarded by Smilex and bombs, it had been far too straight forward for the Joker, for the Hatter, for the villains of Gotham. And now, some of the most dangerous men on the planet had control of the most powerful. They were in _big_ trouble. "He did not reveal the part where he learned _obedience_."

It was as if that was a cue. For in that next second, there was a flash of red, a flash of heat.

And then there was another scream.


	18. Chapter 17: Ice Cold

**Chapter 17: Ice Cold**

"All of the next targets are lined up boss. I'm hearing that two of them are in the sights of our guys, and they've set up the comm jammers to make sure the big one can't escape if he spots us comin'."

"Very good my friend, very good," Penguin answered Cornelius as his bodyguard approached, fresh from receiving the latest updates from the mercenaries out in the field. However, Penguin's mind was largely elsewhere. He was not in this for the public decimation of the Gothamites. He may not care about most of them, but he did not actively seek them dead. It just happened that he was a businessman, and in Gotham there was only one real business that mattered. Still, the only way to operate in that business was by staying free and alive. Penguin had not gotten to where he was today by taking such considerations lightly. Now, with the Joker and his plaything having left the Iceberg Lounge far sooner than their initial communicated intention, Penguin was taking them very, _very_ seriously. "Make sure they stick to the predetermined schedule. But then I want your focus here. The mercenaries are, in essence, working for the Clown. You work for me. I want to make sure that the Lounge is safe."

Penguin had already started to work on doing exactly that. He had remote defences set up throughout the Lounge, defences that would kick in at just the touch of a button. Trick umbrellas where something he was known for the whole world over, and rightly so. The umbrella he now clutched in his mitts contained the controls to turn the entire building into a death trap, all courtesy of the variety of buttons built into the handle. He just had to know what trap to spring and when, which was where opening the umbrella came into play. This umbrella was of the variety with a curved handle, looping back around one hundred and eighty degrees. In built in the end of that handle was the projector, the fabric of the open umbrella the display screen. From here, Penguin could see everything in the entire Iceberg Lounge. From here, just with this umbrella, he could defend it. But he would still need men. Ready, able bodied men. He could mount a defence, but he would need them to fight back. On top of that, all the tricks and surprises of the Lounge could only be used once. The next time around, they wouldn't be surprises anymore, and they would be useless. If, should his fears come to pass, he could get away with fighting back with people instead of the traps, then all the better for it.

"Of course, Mr. Cobblepott," Cornelius nodded with that unintelligent mannerism of his. He really did serve well, even if he was a buffoon. If he didn't, Penguin would never have rewarded him with such a senior position as he had, and Penguin did not trust easily. "I'll get the men deployed, cover all ent–"

It happened all at once. Penguin was flicking through the various bits of camera footage as Cornelius had been talking. The footage of the corridors near to the Lounge's main room were among the last he checked. He had believed his people competent enough to employ them, and smart enough not to betray the man who had earned his place as ruler of Gotham's underworld. And he _always_ had men placed to be guarding the entrances to his innermost chambers. But it seemed that he had misjudged at least one of his guards. Now, it was Cornelius who paid the price. Penguin recognised the sight of a known henchman of Rupert Thorne right in the doorway to the main part of the Lounge barely a second before the sound of automatic weapons fire began.

As Cornelius' body fell, cut to shreds, Penguin squawked. Not in surrender, not in laughter, but in bloodlust and rage. The Iceberg Lounge was under attack. His men were under attack. His best man was dead. His _business_ was under attack. _He_ was under attack. That would not stand. He would teach these people that they were fools to cross the Penguin.

He fought back, hitting the button on his trick umbrella for bloody vengeance. And, with the amount of chaos descending on such a frosty club, in that moment it was almost like hell had frozen over in there.

And things were only just getting started.

* * *

The MEs had only just got Hill's body bagged and wheeled away when they were needed again for the hit on the bus. In a way, Jim Gordon was glad he didn't have to travel to the scene of that massacre too. Those men, those women… Those children… This had already gone on for too long.

But there was also no sign of it stopping any time soon. Batman was still out there somewhere, working on some lead or another, once again being the best hope they had. Gordon hadn't heard a peep out of him since the Bat had saved his life from the sniper, but he was sure that Batman was still out there. Joker had sent them that tape at the start of all this as a way of goading him, after all. If Batman had fallen, then the gloating would surely have begun. At the same time, no reports had yet come in of Batman dragging a battered a broken clown back into Arkham where he belonged. No, this was not over.

Which meant it was only a matter of time until the next attack, until the next innocent - or innocent _s_ \- were being gunned down. Hopefully, this time, they would be able to stop it in time. But that was perhaps a fool's hope. Every cop in the city had been called in. They were all out there now, looking for the clown, keeping people safe. They were doing everything humanly possible, but it still wasn't enough. Already Joker seemed to have shown that his targets were completely random. There was no way of knowing exactly where he was going to strike next.

And so, instead of rushing from crime scene to crime scene, Gordon had returned to the GCPD, ready to take control of the deployment of his men on the ground and to run the show from a central location. He had only just gotten back, only just gotten the coffee – in lieu of anything stronger or the cigarettes he had long tried to give up – to try and calm his mind from all the anger he was feeling at what was going on in his city. He had only just gotten himself back behind his desk, ready to think this all through, ready to try and come up with his own leads of where the Joker might be or who he might target next. He had only just had a second to breathe again when his office door was being burst open.

"Commish', get your police band on quick! You're gonna want to hear this!"

It was Harvey Bullock charging in with the complete lack of decorum that only he could muster. Gordon felt like immediately sighing, though it wasn't Bullock's fault. He may be rough around the edges, but he was a good cop. No, it was because he knew exactly what he would be hearing before he flipped the dial of the radio placed permanently on his desk.

" _…_ _ports of automatic weapons fire coming from the vicinity of the Iceberg Lounge. It sounds like all-out war down there. All available units need to report to the area immediately. Repeat, all available units to the Iceberg Lounge!"_

"Shit," Gordon breathed upon hearing the voice of the woman from dispatch calling out those words to his men and women in the city. He didn't wait before thrusting his hand out and grabbing the transmitter on his radio, knocking over his untouched coffee in the process. As he called down the mic, he barely noticed. "This is Gordon. No one enter that building alone. I want no heroes out there! We go in, we go in in force. If Penguin's involved in this too then its fa–"

"Jim, call off your cops!"

That was new. A voice had just interrupted him in mid flow, a voice somewhat muffled by the sound of a powerful roaring engine, but a voice that was unmistakable all the same. He'd never heard it on the police band before, though. Still, of course he'd have been listening. And knowing him, of course he'd have a way to interrupt. Tonight of all nights, maybe that wasn't such a bad thing.

"Jim, keep the police patrolling the city. This is _Joker_ we're dealing with. You need to have everyone in place in case this is just a distraction. Your people need to protect the city."

"Now see here Batfreak…!" Bullock exploded with rage again, roaring down the open line still in Gordon's hand. Gordon raised his other one to silence his colleague, drawing a frustrated but accepting look from him.

"And what about Penguin?" Gordon asked instead. It was the question more on his mind. After all, he knew that Batman was right. He knew that Gotham had to come first. The GCPD would protect everyone they could. They would do what it took to save the city from the clown. But they simply couldn't be everywhere. If there was an all-out battle raging at the Iceberg Lounge, then the amount of cops it would take to restore order would open up huge areas of Gotham for Joker's next attack. But if there was another way to restore order… Gordon knew his answer before he got it. In fact, he was already prepping to give the order to his people as a follow up to it.

"I'll take care of it. Penguin's mine."

* * *

"Considering how much you always used to chastise me for my more... _flexible_ view on legality, you sure are ignoring plenty of those traffic laws."

Selina purred out the words beside him, a nervous edge to her voice, her clawed hands digging into the sides of her seat. There was no helping that though. Batman _had_ to drive hard and fast, regardless of how uncomfortable the oft composed woman was with it alongside him. What they had just overheard on the police band was proof enough of that. The assault on Penguin had become. They had to get there fast to make sure he survived it. And then they had to make sure that Penguin talked.

They had to keep following the trail. They _had_ to find the Joker. Before even more damage was done.

And they were almost there. In the street far up ahead, Batman could see the signage lit up so bright that he couldn't miss it. But that wasn't even the main thing that had caught his eye. No, it was the truck idling across the street from it that had done that. No doubt it had remained out of sight until the assault had begun so as to not tip off Penguin's men. But now it was in place, ready for any possible getaways that might be needed. More than that, it'd be the command centre for the whole thing. The Iceberg Lounge was big and would be defended. Someone had to be organising Thorne's men if they were going in all guns blazing. There was nowhere better to do that than within the van idling just across the street. All of which meant Batman had his first target in his sights.

Without even slowing down, he hit the button on his command console. Catwoman stiffened up even further beside him as the cannon emerged from within the bonnet. She was stiffening even more as the weapon fired.

It wasn't a cannon in the traditional sense. It wasn't fired as a death knell for the men in that van. Instead, it was a gas canister that was launched at massive velocity. Launched so hard and so fast, it smashed straight through the blacked out windowpane in that van's rear door. In no time the gas was billowing out of the canister he'd fired, billowing uncontrollably. Barely after that, once the smoke got too thick, the men in that van needed to breathe. They were all bursting forth. They were all out into the open. They had all made themselves targets. Targets Batman had locked his eyes on.

Still not even slowing, he jammed his fist down on the eject button. Catwoman's eyes got even wider as she watched him launch into the air, flying rapidly forwards as well as up, the car still roaring around her. Just before she disappeared from view, Batman saw her hands desperately grab for the Batmobile's driverless steering wheel, but he wasn't worried. He knew what he was doing.

Thorne's men, though, didn't know what hit them. Travelling as fast as the Batmobile had been coupled with the added thrust of the eject, he came crashing down into the first goon with tremendous force, the impact alone sending the other man flying so hard that he was out cold as soon as he hit the deck. Batman landed right on top of him, but he did not stay there. Flipping himself with his wrists and the momentum he still had, he was skidding to a halt facing back the way he had come. Coughing and spluttering, the goon still standing was slow in drawing his gun, despite having clearly recognised that Batman was there. As such, Batman didn't even have to rush the batarang takedown. Just a couple of quick steps and he was on the thug quickly enough to twist the gun from his hand, before delivering a solid elbow under the guys jawline to take care of him too.

It had all happened so fast, fast enough to mean that only then did the Batmobile catch up to them. Its inbuilt systems had worked perfectly. In response to its driver ejecting, the car had automatically applied its own breaks. Now it was skidding to a stop right beside where Batman stood over the fallen guys, a very dishevelled looking Catwoman staring unbelievably at him from the passenger seat.

"You could have warned a girl!" she chastised him, though it certainly took her voice a few words to find itself again. As she spoke, she also acted, stepping out of the Batmobile with no signs that the roads had put her off her decision to help Batman in this. "You almost had me scared enough there to make me spill my milk, if you know what I mean."

Batman once again didn't react to her words. Instead he kept on going. He had spotting something, something the goon at his feet had dropped as he had made a scramble for his gun. It was a tablet, a tablet displaying all manner of camera feeds and other statistics. It was a tablet that the thug was clearly using to help organise his fellows against Penguin's defenders. And now it was showing Batman exactly where the fighting was to be had inside, and exactly where he and Selina had to go.

"Come on," Batman growled out the instruction a moment later, casting the tablet aside again as quickly as he had picked it up. He had seen enough. He knew what they were up against now. Now they just had to get in there. "Thorne's men have breached the Lounge itself, the main chamber. Penguin's holed up in there, locked in a firefight against them. There's shootouts on both main passages to it from this entrance as well. We need to take those shooters out, both Thorne's men _and_ Penguin's. And we need to do it now, before Cobblepot isn't around to be answering any questions."

"You know, when I woke up this morning I never expected to be helping _Penguin_ , no matter the reason," Selina muttered beside him, but it wasn't in dissent. In fact, she even took the first steps, actively leading the way towards the big wooden doors that were the entrance to the famous building. Batman wasn't far behind her. Soon, they were both flat out running.

Batman burst through the doors before Catwoman could react, knowing as he did that the fighting had moved deeper within the place. The entrance hall was clear of shooters. But it wasn't clear of horrors. He had seen them on the tablet through the security cameras Thorne's men had clearly hacked into, but seeing them in person was something else.

There were bodies, lots of them. Penguin's front line defenders and Thorne's unluckiest attackers. They had gunned each other down, cut one another to pieces with fields of devastating assault rifle rounds. Blood was everywhere, gore too. And every one of the people in there was dead, other than Batman and Catwoman.

It didn't matter that these were bad people. The sight was synonymous with all of the problems of Gotham, with the world. It was enough to make Batman's rage build. The rage was intense. Seeing those bodies at his feet, the blood, it was just like he was back in that alley all over again.

And it was all because of the Joker. The mad clown, the man so broken he had organised this night of butchery and barbarism. Too many lives had already been lost. Far too many. It didn't matter whose.

No. No, that wasn't entirely true. He couldn't lie to himself, not on this. Not anymore. There were some potential casualties who would hang over him far more than any others. _One_ potential casualty. He hadn't forgotten. In all the commotion, in all the fighting, he had not forgotten that he still didn't know what had happened up on the Watchtower. He did not know what had caused the alert Barbara had told him about. He did not know if the people up there were alive, or if the Joker had managed to reach them too. It didn't matter if that place held a collective of the most powerful and intelligent people that the Earth had ever seen. _All_ of those people could bleed, and if they could bleed, Joker could kill them.

He still didn't know if Diana was safe.

He had to end this. _Now_.

"Catwoman, break right," he instructed as soon as he could say the words, no attempt made to hide the ferocity he was feeling from his voice. "It's the back route to the main Lounge through the kitchens, but it'll get you to Penguin. Don't do anything stupid that'll get you killed, but I need the gunmen fighting it out down that way taken out of play."

"While you take on the no doubt bigger force blocking the direct route from here and we pull a pincer move on Oswald?" Catwoman finished off the plan with the question as she cottoned on. She clearly cottoned on to a lot more too, an empathic look now on her face as her eyes flicked from the corpses around them up to Batman himself and his firmly set jaw. "Don't worry, this kittens got claws. I can handle myself. But you be careful too, especially if I'm not there to watch your back. I can see that look you've got. I know you, remember? Don't go doing anything rash and stupid. Keep your head in the game, the here and now. And remember, there's a reason her first name is ' _Wonder_ '."

Catwoman slinked away at that point, a kind of self-satisfied swagger as she went, disappearing down the direction Batman had indicated. She went slowly at first, but was soon picking up speed. There was little reason to wonder why. The sound of gunfire from deeper in the building was enough of a cause there.

It still took Batman a second before he was able to move himself though. Selina had a point. He had to focus. He had to concentrate. He had been managing it thus far today, he couldn't afford to stop now. Those eight months away from the Justice League had not been wasted. He had trained himself for this. He had to remember that training now. He had to remember that Diana could look after herself.

But it just wasn't in his nature _not_ to worry. Even more so when it was those he cared about who were at risk.

Running helped. He didn't wait around anymore, instead running head first towards the action. It helped him to concentrate, to control the rage and turn it into something useful, rather than allowing it to control him. And it was definitely about to become useful.

He didn't have to run down much of the standard stretches of corridors before the direct route was issuing the sounds of gunfire too. More than that, up ahead Batman caught his first sight of them all, exactly where he had expected them to be.

It was a secondary entrance hall, a fairly grand place where Penguin could entertain his most distinguished guests before they sat down in the main Lounge. It was a place where Penguin could get his guests plied with drink to make them more receptive to the rest of his whims and offers.

And it was now a battlefield. There were roughly ten guys in there. Ten still alive, at least. Thorne's men were arrayed at the near side, Penguin's the far. They were all split, hiding behind whatever cover their side of the room could offer, anything that would mean they had protection from the raining bullets each group were throwing at the other.

Hurriedly Batman grappled high. The sounds of rifle fire would have covered his approach, but striking from the ground would have meant he would only be able to take out Thorne's goon nearest the corridor before the rest knew he was there. From up high, he could enter the room completely undetected. And with that, he could then take them all down.

But there turned out to be an even better reason to strike from above. For it was up there, as he swiftly swung his way across the ceiling girders and into the secondary hall, that Batman saw the real danger. It seemed that Penguin did not think armed thugs were enough security, and that he did not care how many of his own men were to die so long as he lived. He had death traps in the building, traps he was prepared to spring on his own people so long as it took out Thorne's assailants too. Traps like the one in the ceiling Batman was right now staring in the face.

The smoke forming was the initial giveaway, and it also happened to be enough for Batman to understand, even before he spotted the machinery that was behind it. It was a sight common in the world of movie special effects, common enough that it wouldn't take a man of Batman's renowned skill to be able to understand. It was also something that could prove incredibly dangerous in the wrong hands. Penguin's were certainly that.

Perhaps aptly considering this place was called the Iceberg Lounge, it was liquid nitrogen built into a sprinkler like dispersal system, a liquid so cold that it would freeze every last thing below it on contact. And not in a cartoonish way either. If that substance encased those people down below, there would be no coming back for them. Once again, it didn't matter that these were cold blooded killers. Batman had to save them. That way, they could face _true_ justice later.

But he didn't have long. Penguin had clearly hit the button to activate his defences. Now the machinery was readying, readying to make sure it could issue enough to cover the room below, enough so that there would be no survivors of the incredibly painful end. Any second, it would be ready. Any second, that smoking liquid would be billowing down on the hapless fools below.

He had no intention of blowing the thing up, but the explosive gel in his utility belt was perfect to momentarily block the nozzle where the liquid was ready to flow from. It would freeze, it would crack, and the liquid would break through, but it would buy time. If Penguin could remotely activate a system like this, then it meant there was some form of electronic control system. In turn, that meant it could also be remotely _deactivated_. Hanging almost apelike from the ceiling girders, Batman scanned for any sign of that control system, but there was none to be seen. That meant only one thing. It must literally be built into the ceiling itself. But in the modern world of wireless signals, that would be no defence. Single-handedly, Batman drew the remote hacking device, and then he got straight to work.

The device locked onto its counterpart with ease. It took great concentration for Batman to block out the sounds of the raging gun battle down below as he then hacked his way into the systems through all of Penguin's firewalls, but luckily his mind had that skill in abundance. Still, the sound of the gel hardening and cracking was even harder to ignore. Breaking in was slow progress. Finding the kill switch to stop the nitrogen dispersion was even slower. The fracturing gel was almost like a ticking clock, a countdown to disaster.

As a result, eventually seeing the off switch on the hacker's tiny screen was a moment of great joy. Hearing the sound of the liquid rushing back through the pipes made the relief even more palpable. But it was just a start.

Batman had just saved the lives of the gunmen due to his morality. Now it was time to listen to his rage. Now it was time to strike. He had to clear this room, to take all of the gunmen out. To take them out of the equation for when it was time to make Penguin talk. This was just the first batch too, with Batman knowing more lay waiting in the corridors and rooms up ahead. But he had to start somewhere. Looking down at the men who had no idea how close to disaster they just were, Batman selected his first target.

And then he dropped.

* * *

A sling of some bolas followed up by a quick and harsh series of whip cracks had taken care of all distant guns, taking them out of their wielder's hands if they didn't take those man down themselves. As for the nearer gunmen, they were finding out just how dangerous cats could be.

Catwoman had already taken down all the guys in the kitchens. It had been particularly satisfying bashing the solid wok over the head of the last man standing. But barely had she stepped out into the corridor beyond, than she was back into the full throws of the fighting. Now, with fists and kicks getting thrown every which way and back, that fighting was at its fullest.

Or at least it had been. These hired goons all acted so tough when they had their guns to protect them. Even with them snatched from their collective grasp, they held themselves so cockily when they saw it was a woman they were up against. The fools. They weren't so tough when they were crying on the floor for their mommies with half their teeth having flown elsewhere. And that was before Catwoman finished the job with them.

No matter how many of them came flying her way, none of those guys could even touch her. Soon, she sent the last flying kick into a bad guy's face that she needed to. In this room, at least. By the time she was landing back down with her whole body close to the floor, there wasn't a single man left standing in the corridor.

The smirk crossed her face as she admired her handiwork, especially as she seemed to have managed to get the job done before any of these guys managed to get themselves killed. Slowly she stood, up to her full height, stretching her body out like a cat before it sat back down. It was a moment of rest before she pressed on to the next room, before she reached the Penguin.

But it was a moment that was short-lived. The sound saw to that, the sound from above.

As soon as she heard it, Catwoman looked up in a hurry. The sound was almost like knives sharpening, swishing through the air. When she looked up, she understood why. With Penguin and his love for secret weapons, she should have known.

The ceiling fans. They weren't just fans. They _were_ the knives. More, they had just begun descending. What had been a series of fans high up in the ceiling was now a series of rapidly descending death traps, like something out of a thirties movie serial. And they were coming down fast.

Catwoman leapt into action. She had to do it quickly. Those things were now just inches above her head, ready to cut her apart. She flung herself back down, but not to stay down. Gymnastically, she bounded forwards, to a more accurate spot in the corridor, between the fans. She still didn't stop there though. Using the momentum, she literally hurled herself towards the wall, leaping up at the last second, using the wall as her springboard. She had to get everything exactly right. Otherwise she would just be jumping into the giant blender.

But get it exactly right she did. As she flew through the air, the bar holding the fan came right into her grasp. Very flexibly, she tucked her whole body in, using her strength and the friction to beat off gravity. The cat had definitely not hit the fan.

Yet once again, her smug smirk of success came too early. The buzzing sound was soon issuing from the metallic pole in her hands, a sound that could only mean one thing. Electrocution, ready to stop someone surviving the trap exactly as she just had. Ready to force her to lose her grip and drop into the blender she had just managed to avoid.

Once again, she had to act fast. As it had proved so many times before, her whip was her salvation. In the last seconds while the electricity was building, Catwoman latched the whip solidly onto the top of the next fan's pole. It was enough, with enough height too. It meant that she was able to swing her way out of there, swing her way to safety.

Soon she was flying through the air, flying right into the door at corridor's end. She crashed through the door, and through to the room that lay beyond. Through to safety.

Rolling her whip back up to return to her hip, Catwoman finally got the chance to look smugly back at her work. She didn't do it for long though. After he had just tried to kill her, she was cursing Penguin too much for that.

It was time to find him, and teach him what happens when the cat catches the bird.

* * *

All guns were blazing. Thorne's assailants had surrounded the Lounge. All around the vast chamber in every entrance, the armed thugs were standing, firing in at the defendants who were shooting back from the cover of the tables and the central iceberg itself. Umbrellas at hand and standing over the body of the fallen Cornelius, Penguin was right there with them in fighting back.

All the death traps were now active, all bar the 'last resort'. As such, the control umbrella had been cast aside. The defences didn't need Penguin to man them anymore. But the assailants needed him to shoot them. Which was why he had pulled another umbrella from the pack, the trick rifle. Now he was firing it into his foes.

The scream of the man to Penguin's right was soon duplicated by the very man who had gunned him down, as the umbrella shot hit square in the man's heart. A far neater, less bloody death than had befallen Penguin's man, but still one of victory. The victim had made the mistake of leaving his cover and presenting himself as a target in order to kill Penguin's bodyguard. Now Penguin's finger was back firmly on the trigger of his umbrella/rifle, the weapon resting on his other arm to steady it. Slowly he was spinning, looking for a new target.

It was then that he saw the adventurous fiend. A large room with multiple ways in, Penguin could not watch every door at once. As much as he hated it, he was reliant on his men in there with him to cover some of them, to keep him alive. But another of his men had failed him. They had succumbed to one of Thorne's. But Thorne's man had now gotten cocky. A chance that very few people ever got had been his, the chance to kill the Penguin. But merely gunning him down hadn't been enough. The guy had wanted full glory. He had clearly wanted to not just be the man to take the Penguin down, but to be _known and seen_ to be that man. He had wanted to get in close and make it personal. Big mistake.

Penguin fired before the other man had a chance to. It hit him, but only in the shoulder, Penguin not having the time to properly aim. It was enough. It was enough to make the attacker drop the assault weapon he held. It was enough to make the man drop and spin.

But Penguin made sure to finish the job. He made to fire again, but the umbrella merely clicked, its clip emptied. Instead, that left him having to showcase his surprising speed for a man of his size. He surged. Waddling, but he surged. Then, with his lower size but still large weight, he tucked his head in and rammed his shoulder right into the hunched over man's gut. It was enough to push him the rest of the way.

The gunman finally toppled, but he didn't just hit the deck. In the centre of the Iceberg Lounge, he instead went over the barrier. He went into the artificial lake. He went in to Penguin's well trained seals. And he was soon left screaming more than any bullet could make him do.

If there weren't still bullets flying all around him, Penguin would have squawked with laughter. Instead, he tore his eyes from the reddening sight. The rifle that the gunman had dropped before his final fall was still within reach. The old 'booby trap control' umbrella was too. Penguin quickly took both, dual wielding. But while one was a weapon, the other was merely to be imposing. Still, the bullets were imposing on their own.

Penguin no longer cared who he fired at. He just fired, fired endlessly, fired on and on with every last bullet within the assault rifle, spinning around the room to cover every last entrance. He had had enough. It was time for all of Thorne's men to die. Now Penguin did squawk, but not with laughter. It was with rage. It was only when the bullets rang out and there was no sound but a clicking gun in the room that Penguin realised what was going on around him. The clicking of the gun was the _only_ sound. There was no one else firing. There was no one else still standing in the room. But he hadn't killed them all. Neither his own men, nor Thorne's. Of those who had still been standing, his gunfire had been too random for _all_ to have been killed by it…

Penguin began to smirk at the room's newfound loneliness regardless. At first he thought it was the victory, that the fates of luck were smiling down upon him. Then he noticed that there was still _something_ moving out there, amongst the shadows. Then he came to his senses, remembering the other universal truth of Gotham City. Crime reigned supreme in this place, but there was still a knight in dark armour. The next second, he saw the shadow's pointy ears.

"Get out of here, Bat!" Penguin barked out at that shadow. "There's nothing for you here! After surviving this, do you think I would be foolhardy enough to succumb to _you_ now?!"

But then the shadow moved. It slunk forward. It swayed in a way the Batman never did. It swayed in a feminine way. And then it came into the light.

"Now, now, Oswald. Let's not forget, the early bird gets the worm, but the kitty takes home the biggest prize of all. And besides…" Catwoman purred at him, fully head to toe in her old costume, her whip held threateningly over both her hands. At that point, though, she broke off, taking one hand off the whip. With one claw, she pointed over Penguin's shoulder, to something above him. With her lacking any ranged weapon, Penguin knew it was safe to turn, to look up and away from her. It was then he saw the other, far more looming shadow. The mass of black, large, menacing, like something out of a nightmare, almost inhuman. Except Penguin had seen this shadow before. This time, there was no mistake. "He's over there."

And then, before Penguin could even scream, the shadow dropped, with great speed and ferocity. There was nothing Penguin could do to stop it overwhelming him, to stop it disarming him, to stop it defeating him, despite his efforts.

Penguin had survived the attack by Rupert Thorne.

But now the Batman had arrived. And he was very angry.

* * *

 ** _A/N:_**

 ** _As ever, please review! I do love getting them in!_**

 ** _And in the meantime, I'll catch you all later. Almost time for me to pop on down to the pictures..._**


	19. Chapter 18: Mad As a Hatter

**Chapter 18: Mad As a Hatter**

* * *

 ** _A/N:_**

 ** _So, y'all seen the movie yet? If not, get yourselves down to that cinema pronto! If you have, get yourself_ back _down there! It's better on the second run, trust me!_**

 _ **Anyways, in between going to show support for these guys and gals who have brought us so much joy over the years, thought I'd leave this little ditty on here for your perusal...**_

 _ **As usual, please fire in those reviews friends! I sure do love 'em! Lots and lots and lots of them!**_

 _ **Speaking of which, special thanks go out to the regular reviewers of recent times; Lotsy, the Jade Ocelot (must avoid Stephen Fry's potentially unsuitable ocelot joke...) and my boy CP, despite him being unusually late last time round. You guys are awesome!**_

 _ **And just think, one or twelve of you other folks can easily join that list! Just keep dropping me those notes when you're done reading!**_

* * *

There had been a flash of red, but this time it wasn't _the_ Flash. He normally went at a million miles a second, living out every moment at breakneck speed. This time though, even for Wally West everything had slowed down. His mind especially, dragging his body back to the speeds of Trevor the Tortoise.

The man in the hat, the _madman_ in the hat. The man who had emerged from nowhere. The little, ugly man who had just made Supes go rigid. Then Supes had attacked GL. Flash, the great believer, the great _truster_ , the great optimist, simply could not believe it, not coming from the big Boy Scout, the greatest of them all.

Which was why he, the fastest man alive, ended up being too slow. He ended up being too slow to get out of the way. All he could do was look up and stare. Horror lay across his face at the sight, as Superman's eyes tracked right to him, all while both moved at super speed. As Superman's eyes flared and the heat vision burst forth, Flash could not get his legs moving to avoid it.

And as a result, he took the hit. He felt the pain, the pain so intense that he could not hold back the scream, both legs feeling as if they were on fire. There was nothing he could do against it, nothing he could do to stop the collapse.

But he never hit the deck. He wasn't the only one in the room with super speed. A red and blue blur, Superman crossed the room in less time than it took for a normal guy to bat an eye, catching Flash before he landed on the ground.

But it wasn't an apologetic catch. It wasn't the catch of a friend.

Before Flash knew it, Supes had him slung over his shoulder, one arm still wrapped around him. One arm squeezing tight. Flash was already starting to see spots as the air was compressed out of his lungs.

And he had nowhere to run.

* * *

It was Diana who reacted first. She didn't seem to hold back, despite it being Superman. Despite it being one of their own. But then, Flash was also their friend, and he was in trouble. Big trouble. For Superman was out of control, in the _Hatter's_ control. And right now he was trying to literally squeeze the life out of Wally.

Mercilessly. Uncontrollably. Robotically. _Murderously_.

Green Lantern did not hesitate before moving to help. He had just found out first hand that - in the ways that mattered - it wasn't really their friend stood before them. It wasn't Superman, not really. Not so long as it wasn't him in control of all that power. It was the Mad Hatter grown muscle, and the Mad Hatter was a villain who had to be stopped. The problem was 'how', when that muscle was the most powerful the world had ever known.

And especially when the most powerful weapon on the Earth was now nothing but a sparking mess, attached to a hand that was equally crushed and broken.

Wonder Woman had her fingers prised around Superman's arm. She was heaving with all of her might, and it seemed to be working too. She was opening up the gap, buying Flash enough room to breathe, but Superman was using his free arm to ensure the man did not escape. Not to swat Diana away, but to keep hold of Flash. GLs marine eye did not fail to pick up on that. There was something more to this. For _some_ reason, Flash had just been targeted.

However, it wasn't his focus. His fingers might not be working anymore, not after going through the crusher that was Superman's grip, but his mind still did. He could still form the images, he could still summon his will. Right now, there was nothing he was willing more than to give Wonder Woman that final kick of extra strength she needed to get Wally out of there. The problem was, the ring had gone through that crusher too.

It was incredibly powerful, but it wasn't impervious. Somehow, Superman had damaged it, damaged it good. Green sparks were still flying from it, and no matter how hard GL tried, all the constructs it could muster were faint wisps that wouldn't help anyone. He soon understood why.

Power rings were a remarkable thing. To this date, there was no known upper limit to what they could actually do. A quick glance at his own was enough to tell John Stewart that his was displaying that sort of fact. Right now, the object had actually begun to _repair itself_. But it was taking up energy, energy that was therefore lacking from any constructs. Energy that would be missing from any attempt to help Diana to save Flash.

Shayera's typical war cry was enough to make GL stop literally shaking the ring to try and get it to work. Instead, it made him look up to see his girl in action, but she wasn't rushing in towards Superman and Flash. Instead, she was going completely the other way, mace raised and charged as if ready to do some serious damage. The young partner, Robin, was looking to attack the same direction to.

And it made sense. Neither of them were a patch on Superman, not in terms of sheer physical strength. They would be completely incapable of helping the still straining Wonder Woman on that front. But there was another way to end this. They could set Superman free. They could take out what was controlling him, remove what was making him do this.

They were going after the Hatter.

But the villain saw them coming. He squealed, an almost childish exclamation of fear. It was enough though, seemingly enough to act as an order. Just the sound of it and the red and blue blur was zipping across the room once again, leaving Wonder Woman stumbling towards the deck in its wake as the sudden move caught her off-guard. Shayera couldn't react to it in time either.

Once again, Superman had just charged across the room as only he could, only this time it was to get back to his controller's side. This time it was to be guardian, not aggressor. It was to provide a human shield. Shayera's mace had already been swinging when the Hatter squealed. With the suddenness of Superman's arrival, that swing was happening regardless. It might not have been that bad of a thing. With the mace charged up to its fullest, there was a chance that the shock of the blow may have knocked Superman back to his senses and destroyed whatever hold the Hatter had over him.

Or at least GL had hoped there was. But the radio controlled Superman wasn't going to play ball. Instead, he was going to do even more damage.

For Superman had made sure it wasn't he who intercepted the mace in order to protect the Hatter. He put Flash right in the line of fire instead.

The Nth metal ball crashed down hard into the upper spine of the Scarlet Speedster. This time, Flash didn't scream. He didn't seem to have the chance to. He had been simply knocked out cold. He wasn't the only one to get hurt either. This time Superman did swat with his free hand. Once again, GL once was left cursing his damaged ring, only this time with even more personal guilt and fear. For Shayera took the blow, full on across the ribs, in an attack that must have hurt like hell. She was sent flying across the room, crashing into Wonder Woman as she had been regaining her feet, sending both women smashing back into the far wall.

"I do believe it is time for us to fly, Superman!" Mad Hatter squawked, his tiny head peering around the man mountain of steel, looking out at the series of very angry and desperate superheroes facing him. Just his eyes were enough to show he was afraid, but also almost orgasmically enjoying the power of control. "We're late, we're late, for the next phase of the Batman's final fate… _just_ as the Joker planned it!"

No one could stop Superman before he was forcibly compliant. Now free from attack, there was no stopping him grabbing hold of the Hatter with his free hand, Flash still in the other. Only Superman wasn't about to rush out via the front doors. He was about to go straight through the wall. With no free hand, he literally headbutted his way out, the two charges with him all of the way. With Wonder Woman and Shayera still scrambling back up, there was now no stopping his escape.

Other than GL, that was. He tried, with every last bit of will that he could muster. He tried simply to recreate the wall, to at the very least buy Wonder Woman the time to get in there to once again try and pry Flash free. And for a moment it seemed to have worked. For a moment the barricade of green light formed in Superman's way, as if the ring had recovered enough to be able to spare him the energy.

Unfortunately, it was a moment that did not last. Superman didn't even break stride as he marched for the exit. He simply marched straight on through GLs wall, out into the night beyond. Barely a second later, he was jumping to take air.

But there was someone else in there of course. GL may be ineffective, Shayera and Wonder Woman may have not been able to act, but there was Robin, the kid GL had already underestimated once. Right now, he was acting where the others couldn't. Sure, he stood absolutely no chance if he actually tried to go head to head with the Man of Steel, but it was never that simple with the Bat clan. Collectively and individually, their brains were always their greatest weapon. Robin had just used his. A small device, no doubt a tracker, latched on to a fold in Superman's cape just before he, the Mad Hatter and the fallen Flash all disappeared into the skies.

And all while GL was helpless to stop it. But the sudden gust of wind a moment later told him that it wasn't quite over yet.

* * *

As soon as she had managed to get back to her feet, Wonder Woman was flying. Not just into the air, but travelling at maximum possible speed. There was no time yet to stop and take in what was going on, no time to try to understand the implications of this. She simply had to get out there and save her friend. She had to free Flash from that indomitable Kryptonian grasp and, if it was still possible, free Superman from that madman's hold.

She knew all about the Mad Hatter via Bruce, of course. She knew how he controlled people using some form of computer chip. And she knew that it was a hold that _was_ breakable. But to break it she would have to get that chip away from Superman, wherever the Hatter had planted it on him. And Superman, in his current state, was hardly likely to play ball.

But Wonder Woman simply had to try. As she sailed past GL and Robin, she noticed that Shayera was mirroring her action exactly, only about a metre behind her. Simply put, it was what they did. They helped people. Only they had to do it fast. With the speeds he was capable off, if they let Superman get going he would be away from them before they knew it. It was now or never, to effectively defeat the strongest guy on the planet. Good job that Wonder Woman never backed down from a fight, then.

Only there wasn't one there waiting for them after all. It had only been a second, two at the most. That was all that he had been out of sight for, yet it had apparently been enough. Superman was gone, Flash and the Mad Hatter along with him, none of them anywhere to be seen. Super speed at its fastest.

A fact that was like a thousand stabbing blades to Diana. They had come here to save a friend, but instead they may have just lost yet another. All that both she and Shayera could do was knowingly look at one another as they both hovered in the air above the Joker's warehouse, all glances around the place coming back fruitless.

It looked like Superman was a part of the Joker's plans. The only upside was that him being under the Hatter's control was keeping him safe for the time being, his usefulness to the clown keeping him alive. Flash, though, was in a whole heap of trouble, just as they all were if they couldn't save Superman before the Hatter made him do some real damage.

But how could they save their friends, when they no longer even knew where they were? Diana's compassion was strong, meaning her worry in that moment was equally strong. As was the desperation. But first of all, there was only the sense of momentary failure, one Shayera clearly shared. Both knew that they had to get back to Robin and GL, to try and find some way to track Superman and Flash down, but for a few seconds neither could move.

And in those few seconds, Wonder Woman couldn't help but hope that elsewhere, wherever he was and whatever he was doing, Bruce was having more luck. Otherwise more than just two more of their friends may be staring death in the face.

Especially considering those final words the Hatter had said before he had fled…

* * *

"Hey, Nightwing isn't it? I want a word with you! It's about time you told us what the hell is going on."

Nightwing almost cracked his head on the underside of the conduit as he virtually sat bolt upright at the sound of that voice. He had been in the full throws of his efforts in fixing the Watchtower. Clayface's life support sabotage had long since been taken care of. Immediately after that, Nightwing had done a full sweep of all of the other systems on the space station, to make sure that there were no more surprises in there. He didn't want to risk triggering off another death trap built into those systems as he worked on fixing them, and with the Joker involved there was no such thing as being too careful.

But there had been nothing, no more horrors in line. With the life support clear, Nightwing had convinced himself it was safe to get back to work, that there would be no repeat of the incident that had seen two Javelin's worth of people – both heroes and civilians – lose their lives. All that left for Nightwing to sort was the leftover carnage of the earlier horrors. That included the disabled teleporters and smashed communications systems.

It also included the broken people who had been forced to watch their friends die. Green Arrow was most definitely one of those. Ever since the incident when Clayface had revealed himself, Nightwing knew the archer had confined himself to his quarters, mourning for his lost protégé Speedy. In a way, Nightwing could understand how the man was feeling, simply because he knew exactly how Bruce would have reacted if it had been him who had died in those Javelins. Or how he would maybe react himself if it had been Tim. Still, he found it somewhat surprising to see Green Arrow there now.

"Arrow!" The second call belonged to Black Canary, who was striding in after her fella. From down there in the conduit he was working on, head still inside the compartment, all Nightwing could see of her was the fishnets. Green Arrow, though, had crouched down to stare Nightwing in the eye. He wasn't about to stop working though, even if those two had emerged. He needed to have this done as fast as he could, certainly before Wonder Woman and the others would need him to be able to use those comms or teleporters. They may well be a lifeline desperately needed on a night already laced with death. "Come on, you shouldn't be doing this, you're still too heated! Come on. Let's go back. Let's leave him to it."

"No, it's OK," Nightwing answered, talking as he was still elbow deep in cables and circuitry. Back in the day, this sort of thing was precisely why he had ceased to be Robin and had stepped out of Batman's shadow to be his own hero. He had to think about the people too, as well as the mission, something Bruce didn't do enough of. At least not back then. Even so, Nightwing still didn't stop working. "After what you've both just been through, you deserve to know. The thing is, I don't know a whole lot more than you do. Our communications are all still out. I've no idea how things are going with Batman down in Gotham, no idea if he's got the Joker yet. As for Wonder Woman and the other big guns… Well, we got the truth out of Clayface. He did it all, the bombs, the Smilex, all of it. But he was doing it on the Joker's orders. And he was able to do it because the clown's got Superman."

"Is he OK?" Now Canary was dropping down to her knees to stare into the conduit and get a read on Nightwing's face. There was definite worry in her voice. For one thing, it was almost with a sense of ' _not another one_ '. For another, it was a case of the thought ' _if they can get to Superman, is_ anyone _safe?_ '. "What's happening? What can we do?"

"Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, Flash and Shayera," Nightwing answered with the list of names, reconnecting the main circuit board he was working on as he did so. "We found out where Superman's being held. Clayface told us as part of the interrogation. Those four have gone to get him, and have got Robin there to help them out. But with no comms, I've no idea how they've been getting on."

"So answer the ladies final question," Green Arrow barked out. The red mist still seemed to be around him following his friend's death, a mist unlikely to disperse any time soon. "What do we _do_?"

" _I_ fix the comms," Nightwing very simply answered. It was perfect timing too. In exactly that moment, he put the final cable back into place. As he finally pushed himself back out of the conduit, the whole thing lit up, including the console above it. The smirk crossed his face as he stood in between Arrow and Canary. "And now we find out."

With the other two watching on, Nightwing moved to hit the button on that console. He knew before he got there that it would work. He knew that he had just undone all of the Joker and Clayface's damage and had the communications systems working again. Now it was time to put it to use, to get in touch with the people down on the surface, and to try and get some more answers. However, before Nightwing could even hit the button, the console itself started beeping.

Before Nightwing got the call out, there was another one coming in.

"Watchtower," Nightwing very simply said as he opened up the comm line to the caller, a note of surprise in his voice. With no idea who it actually was and still cautious after everything that had happened, he felt it best to _keep_ it that simple. However, the added surprise at the voice that spoke back to him was, for the first time in what felt like an age, a pleasant one.

"Nightwing, its Robin. Good to hear you're back online. Because I could really use your eyes in the skies to follow a tracking signal for me."

* * *

"Bloodstains, slightly enhanced traces of radiation just above the standard background, surgical gear. The picture's pretty clear, and pretty unhelpful at the same time. Joker and his cohorts not only captured Superman, but they kept him weak. And it allowed the Mad Hatter to get his control chip _inside_ of Superman's head. And with Superman's invulnerability now back in place, that means it might also be out of our reach."

"So how do we get it _back_ in reach?"

Wonder Woman and Shayera still had not returned yet, but Green Lantern had already witnessed what happened out there. Superman escaped, disappearing at super speed with both Flash and the Hatter. The two women were still out there, hopelessly looking for any sign, or perhaps simply trying to come to terms with what they had witnessed. As for Robin, he had simply gotten straight back to work. He had learned from the best, after all.

The secret chambers they had discovered were full of clues as to what had gone on here. Clearly no effort had been made to _keep_ it all a secret once Superman was found. The simple fact of how the setup had worked, how Superman had been weaponised and turned on the Flash ay the Hatter's whim, it showed it was a trap. It showed that they had been supposed to find this 'secret' room. So what happened here was no secret. Robin had already figured that much out.

The problem was, every clue he could find only pointed to the past. There was nothing in there that particularly helped them with what they would have to do next.

"Unless you've got some spare Kryptonite handy, I reckon that's going to be a problem," Robin answered Green Lantern's question. He was still cradling one hand fairly limply, his ring hand. The bones looked to be clearly broken, fingers bent in directions they shouldn't really be able to point. More damaging though, his ring still looked like it wouldn't be working right any time soon. That was probably why Green Lantern had come back to him in here instead of dashing out to the two women. Why he was joining in with the more _mundane_ detective work a lot of these Justice League types tended to pass over in favour of intergalactic boxing. "I've met the big guy. I've seen him take on Bane and not even break a sweat. Cutting him's not exactly going to be easy. But there is a way around it. The hat. Mad Hatter's control device. We take that out, and then it won't matter what's in Superman's brain. If there's nothing telling that chip what to make him do anymore, it'll free him. We need to destroy the Hatter's hat."

"Is there no way Superman can just beat the thing on his own? Take back control of his own mind from it?"

Robin actually scoffed at that. The incident where Hatter had tried to provide Bruce with a happy life – albeit fake vision of one, little more than a dream – was just a story to Tim, but it was one he knew well, despite Bruce never talking of it. It really wasn't likely that Superman would find the same sort of way out of there that Bruce had. There was a reason that the mere mortal Batman managed to stand shoulder to shoulder with those god-like supers after all.

"I doubt it very much. Batman's the only person known to have ever managed it, and I doubt his way out applies. Unless Superman has an aversion to happiness too?"

"You got a tracker on Superman before he got out of here?" GL asked another question, changing the subject in full knowledge of the answer to Robin's point. He already knew the answer to the new one, but Robin wasn't curt with his answer. This was the Lantern's buddies out there in danger after all, both Flash and Superman. He had every reason to ask questions like that one, even if only to hold on to some sort of hope.

"Thanks to the second you bought with the barricade you put up, even if your ring is playing up. Yeah, I did," Robin said with the nod. "And I've set Nightwing on tracking it. As soon as we get a clear signal and it's stopped moving, we'll get told where Supes has taken the rest. If my hunch is right, it won't be that far away. Probably still in Bludhaven. Hopefully, it'll take us right to the Joker too. And where they're holding Lois Lane."

"I second that."

The sound of flapping wings accompanied the third voice joining the conversation. Robin finally stood where he had been crouched down in the sham that had been Superman's cell, looking for even more readings to help the intelligence gathering. Anything useful that they could do before Nightwing could get back to them would help. As he stood, he saw the return of Shayera, Wonder Woman not far behind. Clearly, both had just overheard what Robin had told GL. Clearly, both were not too happy with how things were playing out.

"It's time my mace and the Joker got properly acquainted," Shayera continued. "Time long overdue. If they've hurt Flash…"

"I don't think they'll kill him," Robin stated. To the others, it was clearly out of the blue. They all suddenly looked at him a lot more intently than before, even more desperate too, yet also even more hopeful. Robin quickly moved to explain himself and help them to hold on to that hope. "Look, Hatter clearly made Supes target anyone with speed. First he took out GL's ring and its speed of light, then he went for Flash. The fact he made Supes gather Flash up clearly isn't good, I'm not gonna lie. Hatter and Joker clearly have _something_ lined up for the guy, which is bad news right away. But it wasn't about killing him. If they wanted Flash dead, they'd have just got Supes to snap his neck or something. No, they're playing the long game. Flash will be alive. For a while yet anyway. And we'll find them by then, just you see."

"Hera, I certainly hope you're right," Wonder Woman muttered at that. Just as with every second since the four of them had landed outside when coming to investigate this place, Robin had to keep professional as he looked at her. This was the woman who had snagged Bruce's heart, the woman who had got him to embrace the man as much as the Bat. Meeting her in any circumstance would get Robin curious, just as this moment was proving. He so wanted to just stop and talk to her, to get to know the new lady in Bruce's life, beyond the stories of the great hero that everyone knew, or even the small bits Bruce or Alfred would sometimes let out. Hell, he even wanted to stop and share some jokes with her at Bruce's expense. But now, with what Nightwing's earlier signal to him had told him of the situation, with people's lives at risk and even members of the Justice League having already been killed tonight, it simply wasn't right. Now wasn't the time. Now, Robin had to remember everything that Bruce had taught him and keep his eyes on the ball.

The mission demanded it. The people of Gotham, Superman, Lois Lane and the Flash all demanded it.

"Again, I sec–"

"Nightwing?"

The beeping in Robin's ears had sounded suddenly. He had been so caught up in the thoughts of Wonder Woman and Bruce that Robin almost jumped at it, but his training helped him to hide that fact. Still, there had been no room for politeness and propriety as he cut off Shayera's comment to answer the incoming call on his earpiece. He didn't even wait to hear who it was, saying the name out of hope more than anything, hope that they could get on with this and go save the lives of several very good people.

"Not quite," an altogether different voice spoke up instead. It was a female voice. _Barbara's_ voice. The same Barbara who, albeit confined to the cave, was still in Gotham, helping Bruce in the heart of the action. Where, if these latest developments hadn't gone and happened, Robin would still be feeling he should be too, Joker's warning of the bombs or no. "I've finally been able to re-establish contact with him though, and he gave me a message. He says you'll get your answer any minute now, whatever that means. But he also tells me that the Watchtower's not quite up and running enough yet to let me to patch in and get onto Justice League channels from here. So in the meantime, I could really do with you taking the Bat-issue comm out of your ear and handing it to Wonder Woman.

"I've a certain someone on hold on the other line who's rather keen to talk to her. Especially as, for the last hour or so, he's been worried that she was dead."


	20. Chapter 19: Words Unsaid

**Chapter 19: Words Unsaid**

* * *

 _ **A/N: For Lotsy, DKA and all the rest of my buddies. You guys can stop wearing holes in the floor now!**_

 _ **Reviews are more than just welcome, they're much appreciated.**_

* * *

He had taken Penguin down with ease. Yes, the bird may be tougher than he looked, but not by _that_ much. From the moment Batman had descended on him from the high shadows, once he had taken away Penguin's chances of unleashing another of his deadly umbrellas, Cobblepot was already beaten. It only took a few moments of the rough stuff to make him realise it too. Now it was time to make him also _understand_ that it was time to talk.

The ceiling of the lounge, a place designed to be fancy and highbrow, was lined with chandeliers and gothic décor. Having swung undetected between them and held himself there for the opportune moment to take Penguin down, Batman knew just how much weight those things could take. It would hold, but it was also groan and creak enough to make it seem like the opposite would be true. And for what Batman had in mind for it, that was perfection.

The grapnel was firing even while Penguin was still scrambling on the floor, his hands up in surrender, his long beak of a nose bloodied. The bird was beaten, battered and broken. The fear of the Bat always got them in the end.

With Penguin safely at his feet, Batman was able to take a second to safely break his eyes from Cobblepot. He watched as the grapnel looped safely around and through the beams of the chandelier right above the Lounge's central lake. He watched it right the way back down into his hands, safely looped through the chandelier.

 _…_ _Hook._

"I hope you know this means the police charges coming your way will be _extensive_ , Bat," Penguin was barking up from the floor. Those few moments of relative peace were enough to give him back some confidence, to help him forget the fist that had broken his nose. It made him start thinking he held the cards again. But then, Penguin had always liked to think that he was the biggest player around. He wouldn't be thinking it for long. "Wrongful imprisonment will be a good start. Hostage taking, _kidnap_ even! Assault and battery, _grievous bodily harm_. First the assault, forcing me into defending my business from these villainous assailants, and now you! I'm the vict… Now what are you doing with _that_?"

Batman didn't answer that question. In fact, he completely ignored every word that Penguin just said. Instead, he took the grapnel claw he had just caught. Reaching down, Penguin began to squirm and squeal once again as Batman's outstretched hand closed in on him. Still, there was nothing that he could do to escape. Despite his struggles, the claw of the grapnel was soon firmly clamped around Penguin's waistband. Batman then released him, at which point Penguin hurriedly stood. He even tried to run, as if to escape some terrible evil Batman was about to do to him. But there was no escape. The grapnel was still in Batman's hand.

And then he pressed the button.

Now Penguin was really squealing. The force of the reel of the grapnel was strong, too strong for Penguin to battle. With the chandelier acting as a kind of pulley, Penguin was instantly hauled up into the air. In seconds, he rammed into the chandelier at force, but his huge waistline was too much for him to go through the gaps in its metallic frame. As such, when Batman then let the line out again, the pulley now left Penguin falling. Falling down, towards that lake of his, and the sealions in there, already with a taste for blood.

 _…_ _Line._

Batman stopped the fall with a push of that grapnel button just before it was too late. Penguin's dangling, kicking feet were just out of reach of those waters as he came to the jarring, sudden stop. It took him almost a full minute after that before he stopped yelling profanities and simple screams.

"A bird on a wire? _Nice_. I _like_ it," Selina purred, bringing herself right up to Batman's side so that she was within reach. She looked to be eyeing up the grapnel in Batman's hand. Batman made no effort to stop her from doing. From the look on Catwoman's face, she clearly liked the idea of making Penguin take a dip. Good. Anything to get Penguin even more on edge.

"Start talking Cobblepot!" Batman growled, plenty of force to his voice. At the same time, he raised that hand, thumb threateningly close to depressing that button once again and sending Penguin down into the waters. Penguin was shrewd. He knew the game. But he also succumbed to his emotions. Fear, anger, the threat would generate both in him. And with his dangers neutered, that would only mean answers. "There's a reason they wanted to kill you _tonight_. You're no innocent in this. So tell me, now. _What is your involvement with Joker_?"

"Who doesn't like a good laugh every now and then?!" It was an attempt at sarcastic humour. It failed. Even the tone of his own voice showed that Penguin himself didn't believe it was a time to joke. He was just trying to be defiant, despite the fact he was most definitely scared. Batman did not like that defiance. He hit the button.

Penguin lurched. Barely a second later Batman stopped the drop, meaning Penguin hardly fell, but the lurch of sudden potential motion was enough to startle him once again. His yell went on longer than the movement as the red stained waters below him rippled tantalisingly close.

"You may not want to play hardball tonight, Oswald," Catwoman said almost nonchalantly, leaning forward from where she stood as if whispering helpful advice to a close friend. "He's a bit on edge. You know, what with all the killing tonight and all. I'd hate for you to get that nice suit of yours all _wet_."

"Talk!" Batman barked as soon as Catwoman finished speaking, drawing Penguin's wide eyes straight back to him. Keep changing his focus. Prevent him from being able to stop and think. Don't give him any chance to look for a way out. Remove all of his hope. "I know you're working with Joker. I want to know everything. _Now_!"

"Don't we all," Penguin defiantly muttered once again, but truth be told Batman barely listened. For in that moment, the communicator built into the ear of his cowl had just gone off. Speaking at the same time as Penguin but so that he alone could hear, Barbara was talking to him from the cave. And she was telling him something that he most definitely had wanted to hear.

"Bruce, I hope this isn't a really bad time, but I couldn't _not_ tell you. They're back online. I've managed to raise the Watchtower."

"Take over!" Batman quickly growled aloud, thrusting the grapnel into Selina's hands without a further hint of explanation. For a brief moment she looked at him in confusion. Then she realised the fun she could have with this, the smirk crossing her face. The smirk that she quickly turned Penguin's way. The look he gave her in response was revulsion, rage and dread all mixed into one. Catwoman was already saying something to him, was already taunting him, was already playing with him. This wasn't her specialism. She didn't deal in fear, she hadn't the training. But she did know how to hold a grudge, and despite her own feelings on the law, she had no love for Gotham's supercriminals. She would make sure Penguin understood he held _none_ of the cards. Except maybe the Joker.

And that would free Batman for this. As soon as the grapnel was in Catwoman's hands instead of his own he wheeled away, hand to his ear as if it would mean he could hear Barbara better. Not wanting to be overheard, he marched away, past the bodies – both the dead and the unconscious – towards a quiet corner of the lounge, out of earshot of the other two. Only once there did he respond directly to Barbara. Even then, he only used three words.

"Are they alive?"

"Diana's fine." At Barbara's answer, relief instantly washed through Bruce's very being, so much so he felt his entire body relax slightly as dreaded tension washed out of him. However, there was still the full story to come. There was still the matter of finding out what had gone on up there. There was the matter of finding out what more damage the Joker's sick plan had done. "Dick's fine. Bruce, they're alive. They survived. I just talked with Dick now. He'd only just finished repairing the comms up there. It sounds like Joker left some more surprises behind on the station than just hacking your training bots. He took out the comms, the teleporters, bombs in the life support, canisters of smilex. And it all got triggered when Dick started investigating after arriving up there. To the point where they thought the Watchtower was going down and everyone had to evacuate. But it was all a trap… Bruce, I don't know how to tell you this so I'll just come right out with it. The Joker rigged the whole scenario so the Justice League would put its own people onto the shuttles. The Watchtower was never really in danger. It was the shuttles that were rigged with the real bombs. Apparently Wonder Woman figured it out in time and Green Lantern chased after the shuttles that had already launched, but…"

"But he didn't save them all," Batman finished the sentence for her as Barbara trailed off. There was then one obvious question. "Who?"

"I don't have all the names," Barbara honestly replied. "But I know Wildcat was one of them. And Green Arrow's friend Speedy. But Bruce, there's more. Wonder Woman unearthed who'd done it all. She found who planted the bombs, and who hacked the systems. It was Clayface. Clayface masquerading as Superman."

 _Superman_ …? Truth be told, Batman wasn't surprised to hear Clayface's name. Joker was already playing his hand. The fact he had utilised the services of both Thorne and Penguin already showed that he wasn't actually in this alone. This was his plan, his assault, his madness, but he had dragged others into it too. He was utilising all of Batman's enemies against him, with Gotham and the Justice League caught in the middle. And tactically, using Clayface to infiltrate the Watchtower made sense, especially if the person he was impersonating had helped him to find a way through the rigorous security protocols Batman had personally installed on the Watchtower to stop this sort of thing.

But Clayface had replaced _Superman…_? That wasn't good news. That wasn't good news at all. The most powerful man on the planet and about the closest Bruce had to having a true friend. There was only one way that Superman could ever be replaced by Clayface to allow something like this to happen. Joker had found some way to get to him, to take Clark out of play.

And Joker had already showed tonight just how far he was willing to go…

"And Superman?" Batman pressed Barbara for the answer he needed. Hearing Wildcat, Speedy and others were dead was like a series of knives to Batman's heart, but he had to focus on the mission. The mission was saving lives. That meant stopping the Joker. Those who were already lost could be avenged once the Joker was in custody.

"Wonder Woman and the other Justice League founders are going after him now," Barbara answered. "They're in Bludhaven, tracking him down with Robin's help. But it's apparently not good. Bruce, the Mad Hatter's got him. Joker must have had kryptonite. Hatter's got control of Superman's mind. And Joker's got Lois Lane as well, for good measure. But the one bit of good news is it sounds like they haven't weaponised Superman yet. They've not used him to attack innocent people."

 _Yet_. Batman didn't fail to pick up the key word there. However, the thing he was about to say next, the thing he _had_ to say next, Barbara was clearly able to read. She acted on it before he could even say a word.

"Bruce, the Watchtower systems aren't functioning fully enough yet to relay a message over to her, but now I know she's with him, I've gotten through via Robin. I wanted to give you a heads up as to what's gone on up there first. I didn't want you to face any nasty surprises, but I've gotten through. Give me two seconds, and I can patch you in. Wonder Woman's _alive_ Bruce, and she's on the line waiting for you."

And with that, there was no time to thank Barbara. Luckily there was no need to, as she would know Batman was grateful already. But there was something else Batman was feeling in that moment. He actually momentarily froze, so glad that this moment was actually coming. It was odd, especially tonight of all nights. It was a sign of how much she was already changing him. In amongst all of the rage, desperation and determination, he could actually feel happy too.

But that initial momentary feeling was nothing compared to the next second, the second when a new voice replaced Barbara's over the comm.

"Bruce?"

"I'm here, Princess." His response was soft, her voice alone enough to open him up in ways not even Alfred could manage. Despite what Barbara had just told him, he now felt even more relief. However, it also served to make him momentarily forget the mission, despite all of his drive and training. It made him momentarily feel the loss instead, of those he'd allowed himself to get close to over the years, just like Diana. And raised the worry of more losses to follow. That was why, paranoid as he was, he had to ask the question Barbara had already answered for him. Just to be _sure._ "Are you alright?"

"I'm alive."

Her answer was simple, but spoke so much more than just the words alone. The sorrow in her voice was palpable, the empathic grief amongst the endless compassion. She was alive, but she wasn't fine. For only the second time in her life, tonight Diana had faced true death. Tonight she had had her second taste of the grief of the true, permanent loss of someone she knew and cared for. Clearly she was feeling it, despite the fact that she, like Batman, was determinedly fighting on. Clearly, when all this was over, Diana would be overcome by the loss. Just that sense alone made Bruce feel it all the more, feel that some of his friends and teammates were dead. Feel that he should be there to comfort her.

But Diana _was_ alive. There was plenty of solace in that, selfish as it may be.

"We'll get him, Princess," Batman had to determinedly state. It didn't matter if she already knew it. His instinct was to hold her, to wrap her up in her arms and protect her from all of this madness, regardless of the fact that she was every bit as strong as he was. Stronger, even. But that was his instinct all the same. She was just too damn far away, so the words would have to do. "We'll get all of them that are behind this. We'll finish this."

He resisted saying that they'd save everyone else. After what had already happened, he didn't want to raise any false hopes. He couldn't. He couldn't lie to her like that.

"I know Bruce," she replied. "I know we will. But that doesn't make any of this right. Hera Bruce, how have things gotten this way? How do some people end up like that?"

Batman had no answer to that. They were exactly the questions that Batman had pondered over for years, and none of the possible solutions he could come up with were comforting. They weren't the sort of things Diana needed to hear right now. They weren't the sort of things that would currently help either. And besides, the questions were likely rhetorical, an act driven of venting emotions well built up by what had happened.

"It's good to hear your voice, Princess," he softly said instead. Truth be told, he hadn't known what to say, just that he had to say something. It so happened that that something wound up being the truth. She didn't need that lasso to get that out of him.

"Bruce, it's only been a few hours…" she began to counter, as if that was something that mattered to her. She did not keep up that pretence for long. "It's good to hear your voice too. I must admit, I did worry. With the comms damaged, with not knowing how things were in Gotham…"

"I'm alive too, Diana," Batman answered in an attempt to calm her, though he used the same unsaid words as Diana had earlier to give her the full truth. The was no point troubling her with more though. The Joker had made sure she couln't help in Gotham. That was his burden to bear, his city. But events had transpired that meant they at least had this moment and, even though he knew he did not have long to spend before getting back on the Joker's trail, Batman was going to use this time with her for more pleasant words than those could be. As out of character as it was for him and as much as he didn't personally want it, he _had_ to lighten the mood. For her. "And I'll be more than ready to show you that just as soon as this night is done. We were meant to have _two_ days away from all this after all. I figure that once we end this, the League owes us the rest of that time. And I figure that we've still a lot of lost time to make up for."

A wonderful thing happened then, especially considering all else that was going on. Diana laughed, a brilliant, innocent, almost childlike laugh. A laugh that is was clear she had not expected to issue from her anytime soon, but one that she clearly needed.

"Hera, Bruce, how do you always know how to do that?" she said as soon as she could, real gratitude in her voice. "Thank you though. I… Hold on, Shayera's here."

For a second, the line went quiet at that point. Batman could hear voices in the background, as if the mic had been moved away for a moment as two people spoke. His mind's eye was painting the picture, meaning he understood what was happening before he was actually told it. Diana must have moved away to talk privately, just as he had. Now Shayera had come to tell her something, which must clearly be important. Considering what that group were currently doing, that could only mean one thing.

"Bruce, Nightwing's just come through to us. We know where the Hatter took Superman," Diana's voice came back after just a few moments, officious again but still with that warmth and compassion that no one else in the universe could muster. Not as she could. "I don't know how much you've been told, but Superman's under the Mad Hatter's control, and was just used to kidnap Flash. The Joker's already got Lois too. We've got to go after them."

"You'll get them," Batman returned, determination in his voice as well as his message. There was no doubts in his mind, no need to ask her if she needed help in this. Even if she didn't have Robin and the others with her, Batman's reaction would have been the same. He had ultimate faith in her, ultimate trust, and he did not come to that easily. If it was in any way possible to save Superman, then she would do it. Even with the added wrinkle of what she had just said of Flash and Lois, the situation was the same. "Diana, you'll get them."

"Just as you'll get the Joker," Wonder Woman responded, showing off exactly the same kind of confidence in him. Batman was not modest enough to disbelieve her. But the question remained, would he manage it in time? "Bruce, we'll talk again soon."

"That we will, Princess," Batman concurred. He knew that the conversation was now over, no matter how much a big part of him would gladly just spend all day talking to her about anything and everything. What they both had to do was dictating that. But there was only one message to end this conversation on, and it wasn't the adolescent, shared 'I love you'. She knew that well enough by now that those words didn't need to be said. It was something else. "Now go save the day."

There was another faint laugh before the line went silent, accompanied by three simple words. "You too, Bruce."

That was it. The talk that had brought so much relief to Batman was over as if it had never began.

For a long second, Batman just stood there, hand still on the earpiece communicator, staring at the blank wall right in front of him. It took him that second to allow the rest of that relief to wash through him, to get his game face back on. Diana was alive, she was still fighting, but he had to be as well. He could take great comfort that she was still out there, but that couldn't hold him back. In that second, Batman had to cast all of that happiness and relief from his mind. He had to remember all the rest that had happened, the suffering and the hurt. Wildcat, Speedy, Mayor Hill and the rest who had died. He had to remember the mission and the rage. For they were his tools, and it was time to put them to use.

Penguin was still waiting for him, after all.

Finally Batman moved again. Jawline set firm once more, he turned on his heel and marched back into the centre of the Lounge. As he drew nearer, it became clear that the scene was largely as it had been when he had left it. Penguin was still hanging from the grapnel line through the chandelier, Catwoman still stood before him with the device in her hands. It was only when Batman was back there that he noticed how _damp_ Penguin looked, how scared. Selina had clearly taken the motivation of Penguin's fear of what lay below even further than Batman had yet done. But that wasn't a problem. In fact, from the look on Penguin's face it looked like it may have even worked. Batman was impressed.

"Oh, there you are," Selina almost mockingly commented as Batman came back stood by her side. She even handed him back the grapnel device, putting him back in control of the situation. There was a real satisfied smirk etched on her face as she did so. "I was beginning to think that I'd have to do this without you. Little Ossie here was just about to tell me a story, weren't you Ossie?"

"Oh?" It was a noise that was a question in itself. As he made it, Batman looked ever closer at Penguin with a lensed version of a cocked eyebrow, the grapnel once again raised in threat of sending Penguin for another swim. If Catwoman was right, then she indeed had Penguin ready to talk. Even more so following what Barbara and Diana had told him, this Batman was ready to hear.

"For Pete's sake, _yes_!" Penguin yelled out, wiggling and dangling on the line, the chandelier creaking up above him as he did so. There really was fear in his voice, so much so the posh tones he so often favoured had disappeared, lost to his rougher, more natural one. Image was everything for a man like the Penguin, whether that be in the business of high society restauranteur or the master of the black market. Facing the futility of the situation due to how close he was to a route he had used just minutes ago to kill an assailant had made that image fade. Now that he looked, Batman could even see faint specks of red still on Penguin's face from his time in the bloodied waters. "Yes, I'll tell you what you want, just get me down from this ruddy wire!"

… _and Sinker._

"Then start with the Joker. Tell me where he is!" Batman practically shouted the words, leaving Penguin in little doubt about how serious he was in order to prevent any last minute changes of heart. There wasn't one.

"You think I'd know that and still be here after what he just pulled?" Penguin blurted out in response, a bit of fire amongst the fear now. "The clown came to me weeks ago, alright? Told me all about this plan he had, a plan to take _you_ down! He didn't tell me the details, only that he'd found something out about you that would prove your ultimate undoing. He talked about it as a grand, final act, the destruction of the Bat. But I saw my chance, the chance to rid this city of either you _or_ _him_. Whichever won tonight, the other would be gone, and this wretched city would be even more firmly in the palm of my hand than ever! So I agreed to help him. I sorted him out with the mercenaries, the man power, the weapons. But I _don't know the full plan_. And I don't know where that clown has gone too, but when I find out, I'll kill him myself. Just as soon as you _get me down_!"

"Then names, Cobblepot!" Batman demanded next. He believed what Penguin had just said. He believed that the king of the underworld indeed didn't know where the Joker was. He believed that that line of questioning wouldn't be any more helpful, despite having not going too far down it. Instead, it was time for a different line of questioning, and if Penguin couldn't send them straight to the Joker, he ought to be able to send them to everyone else. Another quick jolt on the grapnel cable, threatening to dip him again, was enough to make sure Penguin continued to comply. "Who's working with them? Who are the next targets?!"

"Ahhh! They're in my umbrella, the one used to control the defences of this place!" Penguin squealed, eyes glued on the shimmering water below him and the pets of his now threatening to turn on their master. "A flash drive embedded in the handle! It has a list of every target Joker has! But the damn thing's encrypted. I made sure I was safe from my own mercs by arranging it so I was the one who passes on their payment, but other than that I don't know and I don't care who the targets are! It'll only show off the names of them when the Joker wants it to, to make sure the assassins don't jump the gun as far as his plan's concerned. That's why only three names will currently be showing!"

"Who?!"

"Nyahhh! I'm telling you, _I'm telling you!_ Don't drop me again! It's a trio to make Gotham really sit up, pay attention and panic! Three high profile names from this city of garbage! It's Vreeland, Veronica Vreeland! And that woman from the news everybody always watches, Gleeson! And then the biggest scalp of all in this city, their favourite prettyboy. The clown prince is targeting the crown prince. Practically a whole army's going after _him_! They're going after Wayne!"

A new kind of dread suddenly washed over Batman. Sure, he was here, well out the way and more than capable of protecting himself. But if they were going after Bruce Wayne, then Joker's gunmen would most likely be about to assault Wayne Manor. The same Manor where Alfred and Barbara were housed, unaware of what was coming…

Batman moved quickly. Once again he turned away from Penguin, this time marching straight for the nearest dining table still standing upright, and not only because Penguin's named umbrella was laying resting beside it. Without hesitating, he took the grapnel device and hurriedly tied it around the table leg. The thing groaned, initially moving as Penguin's weight dragged it to the water, gravity pulling Penguin himself closer in to. He squealed once more, but Batman didn't react. He had just run the numbers through his head. He was convinced that the line and the table would hold, that Penguin would not fall and drown. But Penguin did not have to know that. Still, Batman did not look back. Instead, he continued to stride forcefully away, only with that umbrella now firmly in his hand.

"Hey! I told you everything! You bloody rodent, _get me down from here_!"

"Sorry, Oswald, looks like we're leaving you hung out to dry this time. Ciao!" Catwoman teased in response to Penguin's shout, a shout Batman ignored. He couldn't waste any more time on that man. Following the assault, Penguin was out of the game tonight.

Hanging from the grapnel, his formal arrest could now wait until the police had enough men to spare to come and take him in. Whether any conviction would hold or not without more evidence unearthed was another matter for another time. For now, Penguin was in the best place to keep him. Catwoman clearly wasn't about to disagree. The sound of her heels on the floor signalled that she was chasing after Batman, even over Penguin's ongoing yells after them. Those were easy to ignore though. Soon she was right back at his side. He didn't even bother to look at her to know she was still with him on this.

But that was only partly because of how well he knew her. It was also partly because he was distracted by other things. His hand had gone back to that earpiece communicator, the channel firmly open. It was a channel that should have gone straight to the Batcave without issue, a channel that either Barbara or Alfred should have instantly answered on, a channel that had worked just moments ago. But instead there was only static. Not the static of a lack of response, thankfully, but the static of a signal blocked.

Signal jammers. Joker's attackers must already be in place. They must already be going in, and Batman had no way of warning his allies. Hopefully they played it safe. Hopefully they stayed in the Cave, where the Joker's men would be unable to find them. _Hopefully_ … But it was safe to say Batman was not the type to be reliant on such things.

"So… What now?" Selina asked him as he smashed their way through a set of double doors and back into the corridors leading to the Iceberg Lounge's main entrance, still barely breaking stride. Taking a firm grip with both hands, Batman's initial response was simple. He snapped that umbrella in twain. Sure enough, just as Penguin described, a flash drive awaited them inside of it. Batman quickly extracted it, casting both offshoots of the umbrella aside like litter.

"Now we stop the Joker," Batman very firmly said in response, holding up the flash drive for emphasis. "There's three initial targets. I'm going to need you to look after two of them. If there's an army gone after him, I'll go after Wayne. And then we get this list decrypted and distributed to the GCPD to protect the rest of Joker's targets."

"You know I'm still game for trying out this hero stuff tonight, but how am I meant to be in two places at once?" Catwoman protested at an obvious omission in what Batman had just said. Obviously omitted to her anyway. Despite how close they had been in the past, she still did not know that he and Bruce Wayne were one and the same. "You do know that that's not quite how the whole nine lives thing works with cats, right?"

"Vreeland or Gleeson, I don't expect you to directly go after either," Batman stoically informed her, the plan already firm in his mind. It was what had to be done. That said, he knew that she wasn't going to like this part. "Selina, I need you to go to Gordon."

" _The commissioner_?" She reacted just as he thought she would, with shock and disparity. Thankfully, though, it wasn't enough to stop her from walking. They were almost out of the Lounge now, almost back to the outside city and the waiting Batmobile. With what was happening, they could no longer afford to wait for anything. "I don't know if you remember this, but shall we say that my relationship with the police is even more _turbulent_ than the one with you? They're even slower to look the other way over those thefts than you are!"

"Not tonight they won't be," Batman responded. "Tonight we need all available hands, especially able ones. _I_ need you there, Selina. I need you there to help Gordon organise our responses. Now that we have access to the list of Joker's targets, the mercenaries are sure to respond. We need to be ready to react to anything, and react fast. You know this city better than most, almost as well as me. And you know its underworld, the darkened corners Gordon doesn't get to access. You can help organise the police for this in ways that Gordon won't be able to do alone. From the GCPD, you can save lives. They won't be able to turn you away. I'll call ahead to Gordon, warn him of the two names we've already got so that he can get his forces out there protecting them. _And_ I'll tell him that you're coming, that he's to accept your help, that he's not to arrest you. That tonight, you're with me."

"Don't let Wonder Woman hear you say that last bit," Selina quipped. Batman ignored the attempted joke, but he didn't miss the hidden sentiment. It was nothing to do with either of their personal lives. It was Selina's way of agreeing, without having to admit she was agreeing to work with the police. She may be changing from who she was, but nobody changed _that_ fast. Of all people, Batman should know that. At least she had changed enough to be able to see his logic, and to understand that it was the right thing to do.

"Here." Batman handed her a communicator, a spare earpiece from his belt similar to his own. Selina took it, immediately tucking it into her ear under her mask. It was at that point that the wall of cold night air hit them. They had just emerged back out from the Iceberg Lounge and into the arteries of Gotham City. Straight ahead, Batman could see his awaiting car. "So that I can get in touch with you directly as soon as I've found something."

"Why Batman, you sure know how to treat a girl," Catwoman continued her light-hearted retorts, but Batman could still tell she was taking this seriously. Her next words made it even clearer. "Just make sure you hurry though. Hurry and get the Joker. End this. For me, as much as for everyone else. I'm not sure how much I'll be able to stand GCPD brand coffee…"

By then, they were level with the Batmobile. The roof access opened, and Batman did not delay before leaping inside. As he took the wheel in the driving seat, though, Selina made no move to join him in there. They had opposite directions in which to go. She would have to make her own way to the GCPD. Still, before he sealed himself in and started up the powerful engine, Batman did turn back momentarily to face her.

It was just like so many years ago, when he had first met her, when his hopes for her had truly been strong. Only those hopes were now platonic. Now those hopes were of her becoming a true force for good. She had always had that in her, it was just buried beneath the layers of kleptomania. It was so good to see that emerging in her now. Batman may not love her as he once may have done, not since Diana came into the picture, but he still cared. He always would. Looking back at her now, standing there heroically in her full Catwoman regalia and looking back at him, Batman even felt proud of her.

"Thank you, Selina," he was compelled to say, meaning it too. "Thank you for doing this. It's good to have you with us."

"You're not doing so bad yourself," Selina responded, flashing a genuine smile as she did so. "Just remember what I told you back at my place. You've got someone to go home to now, someone who seems very good for you. Don't go getting yourself killed. Or you'll have me to answer to, as well as her."

Batman couldn't help it. He smirked. "I'll try."

And then he hit the button. Concurrently the cockpit of the Batmobile slid closed, its powerful engine roaring into life. Only seconds later and at great speed, he was underway. Soon, Catwoman wasn't even a speck in his rear-view mirrors anymore.

Batman drove hard, drove fast. He had to get back to the Manor, to the cave, and no traffic or red lights were going to stop him. Not tonight. But it was nothing that he couldn't handle. In fact, he could handle it so well that he didn't even need to slow down to plug the flash drive he had taken from Penguin into a socket in the Batmobile's dash and open up the remote upload to the Watchtower. Almost immediately, the comm channel was open too.

"I'm hoping that's not a new party invite you just sent me, because that last one didn't really go so well," Nightwing's voice issued from the channel, clearly in reaction to the data now streaming his way on the Watchtower's battered but still active systems.

"A list of the Joker's next targets," Batman informed Nightwing, not following his lead and using metaphors as he got straight to the point. Still, just as it had been with Diana, it was a relief to hear from his very much alive and well protégé. "All bar the next three are encrypted. I need you to unpick them and get the list to the GCPD."

"Sure," Nightwing responded. "Though not to undermine your orders or anything, but isn't this something Batgirl ought to be taking care of? I mean, isn't she on Gotham duty while I'm up here trying to help out the League?"

"Wayne Manor is one of Joker's next targets," Batman put it bluntly. The sound Nightwing made in response made it clear that he understood before Batman explained more. "I've lost contact with the Cave. The mercenaries must already be there. I'm on my way back now to take care of them. You get me those names."

"Will do," Nightwing firmly replied this time, dropping the humour from his tones. "They'll be safe, Bruce. They'll be safe in the Cave, you'll see."

"Just get the names."

Batman closed off the channel at that. He had kept telling himself the same message that Nightwing had just delivered to him, determined to believe it. But he couldn't help his paranoia. He couldn't shift the feeling that everything could be about to go so very, very wrong. He wouldn't do either, not until he got back there. Not until he saw that Barbara and Alfred were alive and Joker's assassins were beaten.

And so he pushed his foot down even harder on the accelerator, pushing the Batmobile right to its limits within the confines of the city streets.

As he lived and breathed, Joker's night of madness would not claim Barbara and Alfred too. Not while he could help it. He had to believe that.

Just as he had to have faith that Diana would be able to save Kent, Wally and Lois. If _she_ could still help it…


	21. Chapter 20: Fear Itself

**Chapter 20: Fear Itself**

Darkness. Darkness was everywhere. All around her, engulfing her. All that she could see or hear or feel or think. Everything was darkness. Everything was shadow. There was no more light left in her world.

She could not even move. She knew she wasn't standing, trapped somehow, prepped and ready for yet more darkness. She felt like she was seated, but she was bound. There was no rope. There wasn't even a chair, not that she could see anyway. Or really feel. It was just some form of mass below her, keeping her from falling flat on her back. But then, there was something binding her hands. Otherwise she'd be able to move them, to put them somewhere other than locked at the small of her back.

All that she could do was turn her head, but there was no point. There was nothing out there to see. Only the darkness. And the darkness did not appeal to her.

Yet there had been a time before the darkness. There had been a time when she had known light... _hadn't there_? Yes, she was sure there had been. But it seemed like so long ago, so distant, _ancient_ , like a drawing in the sand long washed away by the lapping tides. Her memories, her life away from the black, all of it, gone to the bottom of those oceans. Her name…

Her name. _Lane_. From somewhere, some distant vestige, that word suddenly shone in the darkness. That word shone when she tried to remember her name. That… That must be her name. Lane. _Lois_ Lane. Yes, that was her name. It was coming back to her now. The memories lost to the sea had found a way to float on back. She was Lois Lane.

And she was so much more than a name. It all came flooding back now. She was a woman, brave and true. And _brilliant_. She was a reporter, the best damn one around. And she didn't ever go down without a fight. She remembered it all, remembered exactly who she was now.

She was a woman who didn't simply accept suddenly waking up in a world of pure darkness. She was a woman who wanted answers. She was a woman who didn't accept the prison of this void.

"Hello?!" Lois called out into that void. There was no instant response, not even the sound of an echo to indicate special area. "Hey! I'm talking to you! Whoever you are… Hello?! I don't know what your game is here, but I don't really fancy playing this one!"

Nothing. Still nothing. No response, none at all. Only more darkness, more emptiness. More _nothingness_. Nothingness that included how she had gotten here in the first place. Perhaps her memories hadn't all flooded back to her as she had initially thought.

But there was something. She hadn't heard it at first. It wasn't exactly loud. In fact, it was so quiet that a dropping pin would probably have drowned it out, if there was actually a floor here for it to land on. But in the nothingness, there was nothing to block the sound, a sound that was starting to grow louder, albeit slowly. She listened closely, intently. There was nothing better to do, so she may as well. But she didn't know how to feel. She tried to move, to stand, to draw closer to the sound, or to run. But she couldn't. She still couldn't move. Whatever invisible force was restraining her wouldn't let her. Maybe that was why the anxiety was starting to build in her. She didn't like not being able to move. In fact, she hated it.

And it only made that noise more mysterious, only made her wonder what it was all the more. Whatever it was, it seemed to be getting closer, which didn't help that anxiety. Neither did the growing feeling in her gut that something really wasn't right about all of this. In fact, that feeling was telling her that something was terribly wrong. She didn't realise it until it got more pronounced. Her hands had literally started shaking behind her back. Behind her back where they were still bound, trapping her in the darkness, trapping her there as that noise approached her…

The squeaking noise. The animalistic noise. The _harmonic_ noise. It was more than one. It was more than one thing making that noise. It was a whole lot of things. She could hear that now. She could hear the faint gaps between them, the points where they weren't quite in tandem. And then she heard the other sound, the sound like the rapid movement of air.

The sound like a thousand flapping wings.

The light was sudden, a burst in the darkness, so extreme it was blinding. Lois had to close her eyes, head turning away from the light, the light that had come from nowhere. The light that shouldn't exist. The light that was as troubling as the dark.

The noise was loud. Too loud now. It was close. Too close. Far too close. She had to see. She had to know. She had to understand what was happening to her. It wasn't easy through the light in the dark, but she forced herself to open her eyes. As much as it stung, she had to see. Her eyes opened, just in time.

There were thousands of them, masses, hordes. Coming every which way and back again. Practically striking her, practically shrouding the light. They were taking over, the darkness and the light gone. There was only them, the horde, and the masses, all around her. There was only the creatures, squeaking, squawking, as if fighting the environment itself. There was only them, as if they had come to literally fight the darkness.

There was only the bats. The endless bats. The Bats… _Bats_ …

It hit her like a wave, but not a pleasant one. Heat. A wall of heat, heat that made her feel as if her skin was on fire, heat that made her feel like her whole essence was burning. She couldn't help it. She screamed. Her lungs emptied, the very air within them itself red hot.

Yet even through that, she did not fail to notice. She didn't miss the change in tone. She didn't miss those bats squeals. All of a sudden, they weren't like before. Now they were pained. Now those bats were feeling the heat too. They were squealing. They were _dying_. They were falling.

One by one, they were all crashing down around her. Dead. But that wasn't the only thing that Lois saw. She also saw the red. What had once been a mix of darkness and light, there was now red. A wall of red light, and red heat. Red heat lining her vision.

And then it became too much. Then the pain got too much. The heat got too much. Then there was too much red. Now she really screamed. Her eyes winced tight, but still the red got through. The red, as if the environment itself was burning her, as if something had just set the very air itself on fire. As if this was the fiery damnation that was the end.

But it wasn't. It was over. Suddenly, it was all over. It was all over as if it had never even begun in the first place. It took her a moment to register that, to stop screaming. Where moments ago there had been only heat and death, everything suddenly felt normal again. Everything suddenly felt just as it had when she had first awoken bound in the blackness. But how could that _be_ …?

Slowly she opened her eyes, only to see that she wasn't in the blackness anymore. But she wasn't in the light either, or amongst the bats, or in the red heat.

She was back where she belonged. She was in Metropolis once again. She was back at the reconstructed Daily Planet once again. She was back at her same old desk in her same old chair, once again. It was like coming home. It was beauty to her eyes. It was bliss. It even made her smile.

She must have just been working herself too hard. She must have just pulled another all-nighter in pursuit of another ground-breaking story, gotten too tired and fallen asleep at her desk. It wouldn't be the first time that had happened. She even smiled. It had all just been a bad dream.

So then why were her hands still bound behind her back? Why was that she still couldn't move from her damn chair?

And then she noticed it. Then she noticed _them_.

They were everywhere. Or, more accurately, all over the _floor_. They were all there, all fallen, all _motionless_. All covered in yet more red. Only this time it wasn't heat. This time, they were all covered in blood.

And they were all people that she knew. People that she worked with. People that she considered damn good friends. Perry. Jimmy. Ron. Even the man who sold her her morning coffee. All of them dead. All of them having seemingly had a hole burned right through their chests. _Burned_. By heat. By searing, _red_ heat.

Even Ma and Pa Kent. They were there too. Why were _they_ there? What the _hell_ had happened? And how the hell was Lois managing to avoid being violently sick at the personal carnage before her? She felt like it. She felt like she should be spewing her guts out. She felt like her own heart was being ripped out of her chest at what lay before her eyes.

Dead. All of them, all the people she loved… _Dead_.

All except Clark…

It was only then that she noticed. It was only then, as she tried to turn away to avoid the sight, that she saw him. Up there, floating up above them, his red cape flowing behind them. He was heroically posed as ever. It was another moment where she thought there might actually be some relief. It was a moment where, even amongst all the dead, she felt there might be some hope. There might be some hope that now the nightmare would _really_ be over.

But Superman… It wasn't _her_ Superman up there floating above her. He wasn't even looking at her. He wasn't looking at any of them, any of his friends, not even at his dead parents. _That_ wasn't him. That wasn't Clark. Clark would not be able to just float there and ignore all that. He'd either be fighting or crying, bringing justice or succumbing to his emotions.

This Superman… He was more like a robot. A fake. A mindless copy…

"Superman!" She couldn't help it. She still had to call out his name. She had to hope he could snap himself out of it.

But he didn't. He didn't even react. Not at first. Then, the next second, those eyes of his started to turn red. And they finally began to turn Lois' way. And then she understood. She understood how all of those around her had died.

And now she was afraid. She was afraid, but not for herself. She was not afraid of what _this_ Superman would do to her. She was afraid of what Superman had become. She was afraid for everyone else in the world. But mostly, she was afraid for Clark. She was afraid of what doing this would ultimately do to him, the man that she knew so well.

And it was because of that that Lois Lane, who would normally firmly stare death in the face, found herself forced to look away. She closed her eyes, turning her head sharply to the side and away from the monster, waiting for the end.

But that end didn't come. After moments, several long moments of trembling fear, tears in her eyes, she could take it no more. Slowly she opened her eyes. Slowly she turned back to look up to Superman, to find out what he was waiting for.

Only to see that, once again, the winds had changed. _What the hell was going on?!_

Just as suddenly as she had gotten back there, she wasn't in Metropolis any more. She was still in her chair, still stuck down to it, still with her hands tied behind her back, still unable to move anything but her head. Yet her head was moving, looking all around her, trying to figure out where exactly she was now. But there was nothing there, nothing unique and identifying, nothing to single out where this place was, to distinguish it from any other like it.

There was only the corn. Corn rows, everywhere. A field of it. Looking ahead, looking side to side, growth after growth of the crop, stretching up above her head and as far as the eye could see.

"Hello?!" she bellowed out into the field, into the corn. She was having enough of this. It was starting to get to her. It was starting to get her heart really beating. It was starting to leave her in need of some answers.

Answers that were not forthcoming. Once again, there was no answer to her call. Or, once again, there was no immediate one.

Then came the squawk, the noise she knew so well. The noise had long been viewed as a symbol of death. The call of the crow.

Barely a second after the call, the bird flew past. Large, black wings soared by her. The bird, long, fierce beak and all, came to a land not far in front of her. Slowly its head twisted in its jerking motion, the eye seemingly staring her way. Then, with a click of its beak and another squawk, the crow took flight once again, flying off down between the corn rows.

It was while following that bird with her eyes that she saw him once again. He had come from nowhere. Where a second ago there had only been the gap between the corn, now he was suddenly there. And suddenly close. If she could move, Lois would have jumped out of her skin. She still managed to let out a short, startled scream.

Superman was back. No. The thing that looked like Superman, the thing she had just seen in the place that looked like the Daily Planet building was back. And once again, he was hardly moving. He was just standing there, only a few metres in front of her in her bound state, staring back, motionless. He was like a mannequin, only one with a pulse. It was like the man was gone, and only the shell remained.

And if something could do that to _Superman_ …

Squawk. The crow was back, its black wings a symbol of the anarchic madness before her eyes. It looped around, fluttering between the corn, almost taunting her with its presence. She wanted to shout, to scare the thing away, but suddenly her voice seemed lost to her. Superman made no move to shoe the bird away either. Not even when it landed right on top of his head.

Not even as it started violently pecking at his scalp. Not even as it started using that deep, hooked beak to begin digging through his skin. Not even as the red trail of blood began to pour down through his hairline and over his face.

Superman didn't even blink as the crow began to tear his flesh apart.

And nor did he move as another crow joined the first. And then another. And then another. And then another. And then another…

It was a veritable swarm. Everywhere on his body that a crow could land, one had appeared. Every blot of the sky, every perch on the corn where another one could wait or circle in flight, a crow had just appeared. All of them squawking, all of them clicking their beaks, all of them making a horrible ruckus of death.

All of them that could, literally eating Superman alive. And he was just standing there and taking it…

Now she could not hold back the scream. Once again, the sight before her was one of pure horrors. Once again she felt desperate to look away, to get away from this, to end it. She was desperate to be spared what she was seeing, to be spared the gore of seeing the man she loved so robotically getting torn to shreds by verminous birds.

It took her mind a second to function, so afraid was it of having to endure more of this, of this actually being in some way real. Once it did, she had a thought. In the 'Daily Planet', she had escaped the vision of the corpses by looking away. By looking away, it had changed the scenery. It had brought her here. Desperately she tried to close her eyes now. Desperately she tried to thrust her head to the side, to get a way out of here.

But now she suddenly could not even move her head. She could not even shut her eyes. Any slight movement she made, and her head was gyroscopically forced back to the view before her. It was as if the world itself was making her witness Clark get eaten alive. It was truly horrible.

And then there was another flapping of wings. Then there was another crow. Only this crow was not coming to feast on Superman. This crow had just landed in her lap. This crow was coming to feast on her.

Panic struck, panic even stronger than she had already been feeling. And that was saying something. If she could, she would have been desperately scrambling away, she would have been fighting the crow off, she would have been getting out of there. But she still couldn't move. She couldn't do anything to stop as the crow made to peck. Superman couldn't either. Or what was left of him anyway.

But before the crow could pierce her flesh, there was another noise. A noise she had heard just minutes ago but which felt far older.

The sound of the bats.

The flock had returned, the flock that had gone when the red heat had burned. The bats had returned, blotting out the very last gaps of light still falling on the field. More than that, the bats were _swooping_. The bats were _attacking_ the crows.

It all started to happen so fast, and at the same time, all her panic began to fade. The bats were _winning_. The mass of noise was now one of the crows' fear, of the crows' demise. And as a result of that fear, the crow in Lois' lap flew away.

But she had no time to really think about that, to notice it too much. For it was then that she noticed the mass. As the crows and bats fought, they separated. A gap in the corn rows formed, but it was not a gap that lasted long. In its place, the black mass formed. The black mass that was getting ever nearer, approaching. The black mass that was coming right towards her.

The mass that was slowly but surely becoming more and more humanoid before her very eyes.

The mass that came to a stop right beside the still motionless Superman. The crows had flown away from him too, so engaged in the fight with the bats. It was hard looking at him, still floating there as if caught out of sync in time, with half his flesh removed down to the bone. It was harder still as that mass, that mass that was now very _human_ , took two of its fingers and dug them right through into Superman's head, through the hole the crows had drilled.

"Get off of him!" Lois screamed from her chair, emotions raw, eyes wet. She couldn't not do. That was _Superman_ 's brain that mass was plucking around in, after all.

But then she saw what was happening. Then she saw the mass remove something from Superman's head, remove some form of computer chip. Then she saw Superman seemingly awaken. And then she saw the human that that mass was becoming.

Bruce. _Bruce Wayne_.

And then she suddenly understood. She suddenly understood everything. She suddenly _remembered_ everything.

It was the Joker. It was the villains of Gotham City, the scum of the Earth. It was the villains who so often plagued Batman.

They had her. They had her captured. And they had Superman captured too, some form of mind control device implanted under his skull. In the real world, just as much as in this vision of one. But her, that wasn't what they had done to her. They had captured her, _really_ bound her to the chair.

And now they were torturing her. They were torturing her mind. That was what all of this was. That was what this had all been. And all the times that had gone before it. It was an endless cycle of madness and fear, a cycle she forgot every time it began again, until the moment she managed to break back through. And she had even lost count of how many times she had gone through this loop, she had been their prisoner for so long.

But there was the defence mechanism, her mind's way of fighting back. _The_ _bats_. And Bruce Wayne. The _Batman_. These were his villains, people he'd defeated, more than once. Foes that he saved the innocent from.

That was her defence, her hope. That Bruce Wayne would help her, would save her. The man she loved once, the superhero closest to her after the Man of Steel himself, would save her.

And that he would save Superman too.

Just as he had in the vision, when his bats had defeated the crows.

The crows that were a creature of fear.

It happened quickly. Just as the mass that was Bruce was leaning over to free her from the chair, the world around Lois suddenly changed all over again. Before her eyes, one world faded and another appeared. Gone were the corn fields. Gone were the crows. Gone were the bats and the Batman. Gone was Superman.

And in its place, another world of darkness came, only this was not the pure blackness of before. This time, it was a darkened room, a room she had been in all this time, a room she had been held in for days on end. A room in which she wasn't alone. There was another face in there, a face staring right back at her, where she was sat tied to that real chair.

The face of the Scarecrow.

"Now, now, Miss Lane. You really should stop resisting. I am afraid that once again I'm going to have to increase your dose."

* * *

He heard the woman's scream from up ahead, and then the silence that followed it. His instinct, as ever was to charge on in there, towards the source of the scream, at maximum possible speed, to find out what was going on, what was causing the danger and to keep the good people safe. But he couldn't. Not this time. This time he could hardly move. All because one of his best friends had just attacked him and effectively taken him prisoner.

Flash was still groggy from being knocked unconscious, despite being able to heal quicker than most. It meant he wasn't thinking that clearly, meant that he was struggling to see a way out of this. It meant he could figure no way out of Superman's grasp as the ensnared Big Blue marched him on towards the centre of this maze.

He had awoken on the way over here. It had been one hell of a startling experience, until he was conscious enough to remember what had happened, what Supes had done. He had still been in Superman's grasp, held firmly by Supes over his shoulder as the Kryptonian stole Flash's thunder. Superman was running, running at maximum speed, darting about an urban area on an extended route clearly designed to stop anyone following them. Yet Supes still hadn't even looked at him. It was clear that Flash hadn't woken up from his nightmare. His friend had still turned into his enemy.

And unwillingly so. Because the Mad Hatter had still been there to, _was_ still there. And the Mad Hatter was still in control of everything.

Ever the optimist, Flash had tried to talk to Superman first, to break through to the man underneath, to try and say something to his friend that would help him to snap out of all of this. Needless to say, it hadn't worked. Then he had tried something else, had tried to use his own powers, in full knowledge that he had to get out of there. To help Superman, as much as to help himself. That was why, despite the pain he was already in, Flash had tried to set his body vibrating, to literally shake himself free. That hadn't worked either. Instead, it had only left him with what must be many cracked ribs as Superman literally squeezed the fight out of him.

After that, Flash had felt himself helpless. But at first he hadn't felt himself beyond help. In fact, he had tried to call for some. He still had that comm in his ear after all and he had viewed it as time to tell the others where they'd run off to. The Hatter hadn't agreed. Via Superman's heat vision, he literally melted the communicator right out of Flash's ear. He could still feel the burn, even now.

Finally, at that point, Flash had felt hopeless as well as helpless.

And then they had arrived here, at this place. Wherever and whatever this place was. It was fairly big for starters. They had already passed through a vast storage area reminiscent of a warehouse, but they were through that now. Now they were in a real maze, a maze of corridors, of twists and of turns. But wherever they were heading, wherever Superman was carrying both Flash and the Mad Hatter towards, it would not be good. As they rounded the final bend and passed through the final doorway, that fact became even plainer than day.

Lois Lane caught Flash's eye as soon as they stepped into that room. Strapped down to a chair, she looked out of it, strained, _tortured_. She looked like she was fighting something, but also that she was completely unaware of what else was in the room. She looked in pain, in fear. She looked like she needed Superman to come charging to her side as he had so many times before.

Only not like this…

The gasp escaped Flash before he saw who else was in that room. If he had, he'd have tried to hold back how he was feeling. After all, it wasn't smart to let the Scarecrow know he was afraid.

Flash had never encountered the man before, but he knew of him, had seen the pictures and heard the stories. He may not be much of a physical adversary like a lot of those the League dealt with, but he was not to be taken lightly. Lois' current state was testament to that. Scarecrow's famous fear toxins were clearly behind her condition. The look that Scarecrow was now giving to the new arrivals, Flash knew that the same fate would soon be befalling him to if he couldn't help it.

Only as he gulped away that rather unpleasant thought did Flash also note the other man in the room. The man in the cage. The man with the marks scarring all across his body. The man with the murderous look in his eyes…

"Her mind is not yet fully conquered," the Scarecrow said as he looked up with his soulless eyes, catching sight of the new arrivals. He seemed more interested in his own actions, uncaring of them, certainly unsurprised to see them. "I have given her an advanced dosage of the toxin, a form to truly make her understand terror. She is strong, this one, but no one is stronger than fear."

"Perhaps conquering her mind in this way is not something we should be doing," the Hatter suggested. Looking over, Flash saw Superman had set the stumpy man back down. The Hatter had stepped forward, to be beside Scarecrow and Lois. "You are playing a dangerous game with this one. Working as one may not be appreciable to the likes of us, but tonight it is worthwhile. Breaking from the Joker's plan is unwise, and that plan still needs Lois Lane alive and well for the time being, as the lure for the others."

"As wrong as it feels for me to say it, have no fear, my friend," Scarecrow reassured him. "She will live, but she will know permanent dread. If she were not to survive, the final part of our triumvirate would not be kept in his cage."

"You will release me eventually, you know. You'll need to. That is why you have brought me here. And then… _Then_ I will get to make the mark…"

That was the man in the cage speaking, speaking almost like what he was thinking of was erotic to him. Speaking in a way that definitely gave Flash the creeps. It was only then that Flash noticed that the man in the cage had a knife in there with him. He clearly was no prisoner. Instead, he seemed to be in there because the _Scarecrow_ was afraid of him… Instantly Flash looked away. This was _not_ the kind of guy he wanted to catch the eye of.

"Speaking of what the Joker wanted…" Hatter began to speak again, clearly uncomfortable himself and wanting to change the topic of conversation to anything but where it had been going. He looked to Superman then, speaking in a way of command, a command Superman clearly could not ignore after what that man had done to him. "Set our new captive down beside Miss Lane, _Superman_. And bind him there too."

"Hey, wait…!" Flash instinctively began to protest, unable to keep silent, even if that was all that he said. There was no stopping the action though, no stopping it as Superman stepped forward and unceremoniously threw Flash down into a seat beside Lois. From nowhere he drew a set of metallic chains, using them to trap Flash into that seat. That said, he made minimalistic efforts to get away. He needed a plan to do that, to do it right. Otherwise Superman would just catch him, and there would be no escaping if the big guy _damaged_ him.

" _Hoohoo, you boys sure seem to be having_ fun _! I_ knew _I picked you all for the_ party list _for a reason!_ _I have to say though, I'm_ surprised _to see you brought the Flash. I could have sworn that of the two names I gave you, you'd have gone for the Lantern…"_

Flash almost swore. That voice… He definitely knew that voice. And that voice meant that things had just gotten even more even worse. It didn't take long to pick out where it was coming from either. There was a video screen embedded in the wall, just beside the door through which Flash, Superman and the Mad Hatter had just entered, a video screen that was some form of facetime. It was a screen that, Flash quickly understood, was the means for the man behind all of this to keep in touch with his notable minions, and to keep an eye on all that was going on from way over in Gotham City.

It was a screen from which the Joker's presence was now emitting.

"Actions are in place for the full plan to be enacted, Joker," the Hatter responded to that screen. His discomfort sounded even stronger around the Joker than it had been for the scary knife guy in the cage. Even amongst Gotham's almost mythical supervillains, the Joker was fearsome. As for Flash, he straight up wasn't liking what he was hearing. He wasn't stupid. He knew that he had been targeted when Superman attacked. But what he had just heard… It wasn't good, nor were its implications. Little did he know just how soon those implications would come to pass.

" _Oh, I'm sure they are. After all,_ what good _is the set up without the_ punchline _? But the time is right, fellas. We're at that_ part of the plan _. The Super Friends will be on their way, so_ be ready! _But while you're waiting, you may as well have your_ fun _with our runny friend._ Two _maggots on the line are better than one. And you know the best thing about maggots? They can't escape._ They can't run _. And what good's a sprinter who can't even_ stand _?_ Huhuhuha _HAhahahaHAHA! Jervis, my natty hatter, I've a message for you to pass on to old Supey._

 _"_ Break Flash's legs. Both _of them._ _And make it snappy! Hahaha…_ Oooh _. I admit, that one was a little_ too _easy, but sometimes you can't beat the classics! Hahahaha_!

"Do it _!_ "

"Woah woah woah woah, no! Wait! Can't we talk about this?!" The words were purely reactionary, but the fear behind them was completely genuine. It was out of need now. Sitting quiet was no longer an option, but trying to vibrate his way out of the chains wasn't much better, not with how fast Superman could move to. And he was moving. He was already advancing. It was as if the Hatter had passed on the message with complete silence. Pain was now coming to Flash whatever he did, unless Supes could snap out of it. He _had_ to snap out of it. "Superman, it's _me_! It's Flash! Your _friend_! Don't do this! _Snap out of it_! Wakey wakey! Come on, Supes! _Wake up_! _Don't do this_!"

But Superman didn't wake up. There was to be no breaking through to him. Slowly, softly, two large palms reached down and set themselves around Flash's legs, just above the knees. And then, with all the strength of a mighty Kryptonian super being, they tightened, fast and hard.

The horrific snapping noise was only drowned out by the volume of the pain in Flash's scream.

* * *

He had severed the connection long before he managed to stop laughing about what he had just seen, Flash's pained screams still ringing in his ears as _Superman_ of all people had just broken the bones in his legs to bits. The plan itself had been funny enough. To actually be seeing members of the Justice League in such agony was something else. Oh, Bats was going to _love_ this when he found out!

"Heh! That sure was a right hoot, puddin'!" Harley called from behind the wheel. They were still driving, still crossing from the Iceberg Lounge to where they needed to be next. But then, they had hardly been rushing over. No, Joker had wanted to see the next steps first. He wanted to really enjoy tonight. He wanted to really enjoy every last act that would make Batman hurt. Flash was just the latest of those. "But I don't really get it. I mean, why'd we _want_ to draw the Leaguey Weagueys _to_ Scarecrow and chums? And what's the knife freak doing getting involved? That guy gives me the _creeps_!"

"What, Mr. Zsasz?! I don't know what you mean! He's a _puppy dog_ ," Joker feigned ignorance. It was amusing, as was Harley's literal shiver just at hearing that name. It brought a smile to his face. Still, he wasn't about to give Harley her full answer. Not even she needed to know everything. This was _his_ night. "But it's all a part of the plan, Harley, old girl. It's all in the set up to my greatest ever joke. I need Zsaszy there to make sure there's that little bit of extra _crazy_ in the mix for when the supers get there. Things never go wrong, when they go _crazy_. Huhuh hehehahahahahaha!"

"Heh, very funny puddin'…" Harley reacted again, though she sounded unconvinced. She clearly still didn't get it, but then she was never meant to, and her confusion would do nothing to put a crimp on Joker's fun. In a moment his laughter stopped, but his smile remained. Those teeth were well on show another few moments later when the car finally came to a stop. Joker did not even need Harley's announcement that they had arrived but he was seeing it.

It was parked up there, ready and waiting for them, just as planned. It sure did look the part. Settled on the landing pad, the helicopter shone in the lights beaming down on it, showing off its glory. Showing off the big guns freshly built into it for what was to come. Showing off its lovely new purple and green colouring.

Showing off the big grin freshly painted on the front so that there were no doubts who was behind it.

"Harley, get ready," Joker told her as they both looked out at it from the car, its pilot already warming up the rotors at the sight of them there. "Things are about to get even more fun than ever!"

* * *

 _ **A/N:**_

 _ **Not going to lie, that first section, just about the most fun writing I've ever done. Even though it wasn't a fluffy one for you guys...**_

 _ **Anyway, for anyone who doesn't yet know, starting tomorrow (13th), it's been declared officially #WonderBatWeek. So plenty of goodies will be on the way for you lovely people! Look out for details on Tumblr and from** **LadyLiteration on the Twitters. I may even tweet about it myself a little...After all, I've just kicked it off with Day Zero! So be sure to check it all out!**_

 _ **One you've hit me up with plenty of those reviews of course!**_


	22. Chapter 21: Cops and Robber

**Chapter 21: Cops and Robber**

Batman's call had come in, a call that he had both waited for and dreaded. A call that in a way changed everything, and in others changed nothing. It was a call that meant that Penguin would now have to wait for his arrest, remaining where he was, tied up in the Iceberg Lounge. And it was the call that meant they now knew who the Joker was planning on sending to join Hamilton Hill and those people on the bus in an early grave.

Veronica Vreeland and Summer Gleeson. Two people who had not exactly been difficult to track down. One was hosting yet another of her high society events across the city, the other was preparing for the latest live broadcast of the evening news. Yet both were in equally severe danger.

Jim Gordon fidgeted in his seat, practically staring down at the radio on his desk. He was still in his office, still staying centralised at the GCPD. In his call, Batman had said that more names would be coming, meaning there would be more life-saving efforts to organise and lead. Meaning that Gordon was needed at his command post to make it all happen.

Which meant that, with Batman's extended list of names not yet in, Gordon had nothing to do but wait, and watch that radio…

But it didn't mean that he enjoyed waiting. It was killing him waiting to find out if the Joker's two targets were going to make it, with not a damn thing left he could do about it. No, their fates were in the hands of Bullock and Montoya now. Both detectives were out there now, sirens blazing, racing across the city with all possible speed and with a SWAT team at their backs, a target apiece.

But the question still remained; would they get there in time?

"Commissioner Gordon. It's been a while."

The chill of the night air hit him at the same moment that those words reached his ears. It was a chill he had felt many times before, the chill of the open window to his office. That was the Batman's entrance of choice, and the new arrival had got there as silently as he might have done. But that voice definitely did not belong to Batman. As Gordon spun, he saw who it really was, crouched in silhouette, holding herself in that window frame.

"Ever since the _last_ time the courts mistakenly felt you'd seen the error of your ways and had me release you from the cells…" Gordon growled, somewhat antagonistically.

It was Catwoman out there, now dropping into his office from that window, pulling it to behind her as she slunk towards him. Batman had told him that she was coming. Apparently She had been working with him out in the field tonight, and now he wanted her here at the GCPD to help the police track down and protect all of Joker's targets, just as soon as that full list came in. Batman's reasoning was sound, Gordon couldn't argue with that. They would need all hands on deck, especially knowledgeable hands capable of defending this city. But what he could argue with was Catwoman's record. If things hadn't been as bad as they were that night, Gordon would have had her in handcuffs instead of offering her a chair. But instead, he knew he needed her. He knew, deep down, that the Batman was right.

Regardless, though, he still hadn't been able to resist that barbed comment.

"I remember it well," Catwoman reacted, a faint twinge at the corners of her lips despite her clearly being as uncomfortable with this as Gordon was himself. Still, at least she seemed to also understand the needs of the greater good. There may be some hope for her one day then. At least compared to some of the villains of the world. Especially the gunmen, the killers. The _clowns_. "It was fun. I've _still_ got your pocket watch, even though it's a cheap knock-off. But more importantly…has Batman delivered yet? I'd hate to think I showed up here too early."

"My pocke–? No… No, he hasn't. Not ye–" Gordon practically spluttered the response, caught off guard by the other comment at first before answering the question that was actually important in the moment. Even then, though, he didn't get to finish his point. The signal saw to that.

Gordon actually fumbled for the radio before he realised it was instead coming from his computer. Infernal thing. There had been more than one occasion when he had felt like putting his fist through it, and even more where he'd had to call Barbara to figure out which was the wrong button that he'd pressed this time. But then there were also times like these, when the blasted machine was actually working. And when its chiming was actually pretty darn important.

To him it looked like any other email, though he was sure it was more complicated from that, especially when he noticed from where – and who – it was from. Nightwing, from the Justice League's very Watchtower. Hurriedly Gordon opened up that 'email', the names shining out from his screen instantly thereafter.

"Scratch that," Gordon cancelled out his unfinished statement, no pun intended, as he looked back up to Catwoman. "You're right on time."

" _Commish'_!"

Now Gordon jumped. Now it _was_ the radio. Now it was the unmistakable sound of Harvey Bullock calling in. Quickly Gordon grabbed the mic to take the call, but Bullock hadn't even paused for breath to let him respond _._

 _"Commish', we got a situation here! Mercs are already at the WGOB News building! And they're lighting up the place!"_

"And no doubt," Catwoman slyly added from the side, causing Gordon to flash her a glare. "It'll be the same at Miss Vreeland's."

From a moment of hope to a moment of distress. Catwoman was right at least, even if Gordon wished she hadn't actually voiced that opinion aloud.

The list of additional targets may have come in bang on time, but from the sounds of things Bullock and Montoya might both already be too late…

* * *

"Two minutes to air, Miss Gleeson!"

She shuffled her papers once again, but she wasn't really looking at them. Instead her mind was running through the headlines once more, making sure that she recalled the key details. She wanted to make sure that when she was talking about the stories of the day it all sounded informative, yet natural. Nobody wanted to listen to someone just rattling off an autocue. That wasn't the way to make people hear what she was saying. Talking was the way, not reading. That was what had gotten her here in life after all, to a place she was very content to be. That and a whole lot of hard work.

She looked at the camera, the light above it still indicating that they hadn't gone live yet. But when they did, there sure was one heck of a bunch of stories to report all over again. The former mayor murdered and the Justice League satellite attacked all in one night. It was the kind of night that won newscasters the big awards, all right.

But it was then that it all started to happen, that a new story started to unfold that Summer Gleeson definitely did not want to become familiar with. Looking beyond the camera to the director of the show in the distance, through all the scores of other staffers between him and her, Summer heard it. And then she saw it too.

She saw as he suddenly collapsed back into the wall, face pained, hand instantly clutching to his neck.

Then she saw as he slowly began to fall, leaving only the trail of red behind him.

And then she saw the gunmen marching into the room.

The next second, just a minute before they went live, everybody screamed.

* * *

The party was going well, yet another of these public fundraisers for the rich and the famous. Though she would never say it aloud, however, Veronica Vreeland could safely admit to herself that it was really all about the socialising, the namedropping, the brownnosing and the popularity contest. After all, museums were hardly her favoured scene.

It was something about the efforts to preserve ancient structures and their history out in the Middle East, an historic culture that was under threat of being lost. Or something like that. As they had been shown around the exhibits and artefacts by the man running the show tonight – one Dr. William Caine, a millionaire turned archaeologist no less – Veronica had listened just enough to know when to nod her head and say 'uh-huh'. But now they were at the part she really came for.

The main chamber of Gotham's Museum of Ancient History had been turned into a ballroom of sorts. Adorned by ancient statues and glass cases of jewels, coins, carvings and sculptures, all those invited were now being wined and dined, interacting with one another, one-upping one another as only their class of society could, all the while dropping what was pocket money to them into the coffers of Dr. Caine for his _noble_ quest.

Veronica was living up to her public image tonight, all right. She was probably the second most famous socialite in Gotham, even if she wasn't the richest. She wasn't donating much herself, even if she was keeping that fact well hushed. She was just here to play the game. She had to admit though, it was strange not seeing the city's number one playboy there too. Bruce Wayne rarely missed such a good party.

But, a few moments later, Veronica was left wishing that she had missed it too. After fobbing off a high-profile city banker in mid-conversation when she spotted the heir to the Edwyn-Douglas Networks fortune walking by in the distance, Veronica was chasing after them, subsequently alone in the middle of the floor. Perhaps it was because she wasn't directly conversing with yet another of Gotham's rich and powerful in that moment that she managed to see it before everyone else.

The men and women garbed in all black. The men and women with the guns, who had just entered the chamber.

The next second, and before Veronica even had time to scream, everyone else in the room noticed that those people had arrived too.

The sound of the firing bullets was too much of a dead giveaway for them not to.

* * *

They were already late. The security guards at the main entrance were all already down. With the SWAT guys hot on her heels, that meant there had been no time for Renee Montoya to survey the scene and make sure that it was safe to charge on in headfirst. People were dying. She had to get in there to save them.

Pistol firmly in hand as her colleagues held their assault rifles in close, she surged through the museum. Their vehicles had squealed their way around the city streets to get here fast. Now she was continuing that act on foot. All manner of ornate displays and artefacts were flying by as she ran at the front of the pack, but she barely glanced at any of it. It wasn't hard for her to figure out which way was the way that she needed to go. She just had to follow the screams.

* * *

It was a case of duck and cover. The entire crew were running scared. It had truly become everyone for themselves, all friendships and camaraderie forgotten as everyone jostled and shoved to be the one to get out of that door first. Unfortunately, being at the news desk and right on camera, Summer was hardly close by it herself. She had seen early, right from the first moment, that she wouldn't make it out there in time. Tripping over her own high heels as she had immediately as she had tried to run from her rolling chair had made it even clearer.

With those gunmen already firing away, cutting down all of her crew that were closest to them, she saw no choice. She couldn't escape. She definitely couldn't fight them.

She would have to try and hide.

But there was hardly anywhere _to_ hide. A news studio wasn't exactly designed for such games. And so, keeping low and crawling so as to try and keep out of the attacker's eye line all the way, Summer found herself cowering behind the weather girl's green screen, curled up in a ball and hoping against hope that no one would spot her.

She desperately tried to steady her breathing to, to stop the loud and fearful panting that had overcome her lest it give away her feeble hiding place ever sooner. At first it didn't matter. At first all that could be heard were screams, thundering footsteps and even more thundering gunfire.

The sounds were horrible. As a reporter, Summer had covered some pretty gruesome stuff over the years. She had seen and heard about all manner of grisly, despicable things. But they had always been _after_ the event. They had never happened to her. She'd never experienced the moment of horror. Not like this…

Yet the sound of silence was even worse, the sound of that last scream turning into a dying whimper.

And then the sound of slow footsteps, coming ever closer to the hiding place that apparently hadn't hid her at all. Yet Summer knew it was too late to try and run again. Her body wouldn't be able to obey her command to make it move now anyway, she was so afraid.

And then came the sound of the gunfire.

* * *

She had opened fire.

Finally Montoya had arrived in the Museum's main hall. Finally she had arrived at the scene of the carnage. There were five of them, five assailants letting loose their weapons on those unarmed and innocent. Five assailants who had already killed more than their own numbers.

As soon as they arrived, Montoya opened return fire. Her fellow officers soon did likewise beside her. The element of surprise was with them. They had to use it while it lasted. These attackers clearly had not expected the police to be on them so quickly, but then they couldn't have known that the Batman had unearthed their list of targets.

Which meant that three of the five were down before the group could even notice that the cops were there, before they realised Gotham was fighting back.

The other two were much quicker on the reactions, though. The other two made it to cover before reasonable force could be turned their way too. Those two dove for cover.

They dove for hostages. Human shields to hide behind. Grabbing a party guest each, the attackers put the innocent between them and the law.

Which meant that finally things slowed down for just that second, that second where neither side dared fire as they reassessed the changed situation. Montoya could have taken that moment to survey the damage, to see how many of Gotham's highest society had just been killed, or if the attackers were grotesque enough to have simply been toying with them all first before the fatal blows were dealt. Whatever the answer to that question was, it would have made her angry. With those two hostages' lives at stake, she could not afford to get angry.

"Back off coppers!" one of the attackers suddenly barked out, her head noticeably kept behind the neck of her insufferably rich male hostage. "Back off now! You ain't meant to be here! Back off or rich boy here gets a stump for a head!"

Beside her, Montoya could see as the SWAT guys all quickly glanced her way, waiting for her action. They all kept their own guns raised though, so as to encourage the attackers not to do anything stupid. Montoya, though, barely reacted. She definitely didn't say a word, merely staring back out across at those two hostage takers in the middle of the main hall. It was a trick she had seen Batman deal many times, and one that definitely seemed to be working now. Those guys were getting nervous.

"You fecking deaf, cop? I said back off! I've already killed three people tonight, you think I'm scared of doing another?!"

"You might to listen, officer!" the second hostage taker added his voice to events. It was calmer than his female comrade, but no less malicious. "We came here to do a job. That job is done. There's no need for more people to get killed because of you. Back off! Once you're gone, we'll disappear, and you can get the hostages back. What d'you say?!"

To that, there was one thing Montoya had to say, one very simple thing, at barely a whisper.

"Now."

* * *

The doors to their van slammed to behind them as the entirety of their reasonably large group all exited the vehicle. Considering what they were about to do, it had been a remarkably calm ride to get there. Looking out at all of the other men and women streaming from the other vans, it was clear that they were all staying on target as well. They were all ready for this.

He led the way, across the quiet, night-time road and up to the proud building standing tall before them. It was a place that was usually bustling with activity, but tonight there was too much distracting those who worked within. There would still be plenty in there, plenty working away hard to get the job done, but none of them would be getting in their way. Not until it was too late.

They fell into line behind him as he began to climb up the steps towards that front door, beneath the sign emblazed with the famous name. All the way, they all kept their true purpose hidden. They all kept their _accessories_ hidden. Their hand could only be played at the _opportune_ moment.

They walked through the big wooden and glass front door, one by one, a stream of them all in single file. The entrance hall was a mixture of greys and browns, hardly a welcoming sight but a sight of authority. It was clearly a building reinforced by self-confidence, a place that felt it was untouchable and inspiring to the rest of the city. It may not be clear of the dirt of Gotham, but it was standing tall above it.

He led the group onwards, right up to the front desk of the entrance hall, a large wooden area separating the bulk of the building to the connection to the outside world. A lonely man stood there, a dark-haired man lost to middle age, twitching moustache plastered to his face. He was looking down, scribbling away in some form of notebook, likely some form of report or another. The man at the desk, the front line of those who worked in this place, for this city, didn't look up until he and all those behind him got there, standing right in front of him and clearly trying to get his attention.

And when the man at the desk did finally look up, it showed off his shining badge, emblazoned with the letters 'GCPD'.

* * *

"That you there, Gleeson? GCPD!"

The sound of his gun firing was still ringing in his ears, but it was one hell of a sound. Considering the sight that had greeted him when he had lead the charge into this place, it was a sound that was practically angelic.

Harvey Bullock was hardly at peak levels of fitness, yet he had still lead the charge. Along with boys from SWAT, he had surged onward into this place at great speed. He knew Gleeson. They were hardly friends, but he knew her, and Harvey Bullock didn't exactly have _any_ friends. Her being an associate was close enough. It was close enough to mean that he pushed himself that little extra yard to get himself in there fast.

And now, it seemed that he had gotten them all there just in time.

The bad guys had already taken plenty of shots, and they had just been about to take another. This place was a field of death, bodies strewn everywhere. It seemed that they had already gunned down just about everyone who worked here, everyone who had just been preparing to send out the usual nightly newscast. Every single member of the shows production team had been gunned down and killed, all except one. There was one person hiding behind the green screen, a screen the full group of attackers had been about to shoot through. A person they had been about to kill.

Until, that was, Bullock and the team had put an end to the attack. Permanently. Now all of those killers were amongst the dead too.

"B-Bullock?!"

The voice came back at a stammer, more than a faint trace of desperate anxiety in her tones. The shout had the inflexion of a question, but the following action proved that that was more out of surprise and relief than doubt. Soon there was the sound of scrambling heels as the person behind the screen leap to their feet, running around it and into view. It was Gleeson alright. And now she was literally throwing herself into Bullock's arms, despite her opinion of him usually being so low. The tears were streaming down her face.

Even Harvey Bullock, one of the crassest men going, couldn't help but comfort her. She had just faced death where she never should have had to. She had just seen all her friends and colleagues gunned down before her eyes. And now she'd have the survivor's guilt to boot.

Bullock had arrived in time to save the Joker's target, but everyone else at the scene was dead.

* * *

The second SWAT team had burst in just as she had known they would. She may have had to charge in to the scene of the battle, but knowing the dangers, she had brought plenty of backup along for the ride. Now that backup had arrived, right on Montoya's queue. Coming in with stealth, the hostage takers hadn't seen them coming as they snuck up from behind. Which meant that they could do nothing to stop as that second team made absolutely sure that no more hostages could be hurt in that Museum.

The last of the assailants had fallen. The assault on the Museum was done. Now, at last, Montoya could see the damage.

All things considered, it was remarkably good news. What with all the bullets that had been flying around until they had arrived, there were remarkably few casualties in the Museum's main hall. It seemed the attackers had decided to toy with the party guests instead of outright killing them.

But then Montoya had seen it. It was between a set of displays, out of view from her initial position, but then she moved. Then she saw the pool of red.

And then she saw the body on the floor.

When Batman had called the Commissioner to warn of the attack on this place, it had been because of intel of one individual being targeted, not the entire party. Now Montoya completely understood why. Now she saw that there may be more to the fact that so many of the party guests had been left alive by the clearly violent gunmen. It may have been the Joker's orders.

For they had most definitely killed their actual target.

Veronica Vreeland was dead.

* * *

The reports had just come in, reports from the scenes of both shootings. Thanks to the information they had dug out of Penguin, the police had managed to show up in time to save lives and take all the attackers down. But there had been other lives that they hadn't saved. Yet more names added to the list of those Joker's plans had seen killed tonight.

And all the while, Selina was still hoping that Batman would arrive in time to save Bruce Wayne too.

Ever since the first call had come in from his officers out there, Gordon had been glued to his radio, listening in to every detail. Selina hadn't felt the need to eavesdrop anywhere near as closely. There was nothing she could do to help with that. It was all up to those guys in the field. No, she was here to help see to it that the GCPD were organised enough to ensure no other lives were lost to Joker's mercenaries.

She was there to deal with the rest of the names on Penguin's list.

Still, now she was seeing the downside of being on this side of the law, the so-called good side. Even only half-listening to the descriptions coming over Gordon's radio, Selina heard all the descriptions, of the result of their failure, of what they saw arriving just those seconds too late.

And she didn't like it. Not one bit.

So she had decided to distract her mind. Gordon was hooked to his radio, meaning that the information Nightwing had sent to him had gone unchecked. Slinking around Gordon and towards his screen with feline grace, Selina decided that it was time to change that. If Gordon was too busy on the radio, then she would just have to look for herself.

After the initial note from Nightwing explaining he was too busy helping the Justice League out elsewhere to have analysed the data, it was simply a list of names. A fairly long list at that too.

At first all the names were meaningless to her, not a single stand out name in a list that looked like someone had just taken the Gotham phonebook and picked a name from each page. Then she saw one that she knew, and another and another. But the scariest thing of all was when she realised _why_ she knew them. They were all the people who had arrested her in the past.

They were all members of the GCPD.

Instantly Selina recoiled. She was hardly a sensitive type, but she knew exactly what that meant. And it wasn't good.

"Commissioner, get this building locked down! _Now_!" she called out instantly on that discovery. Internally she was cursing, cursing the timing of that radio that distracted Gordon's eyes from the list. Seconds may be vital here, and Gordon would have spotted it straight away. Now, he was looking at her startled, until she twisted the screen right into his eye line and pointed at the names. Then she saw the recognition, the fear. "Joker's next target, it's not out there in the city! It's here! It's the GCPD!"

Gordon's hand snatched out, desperately grabbing for the radio, but this time it was nothing to do with what was going on out in the wider city. This time it was to protect themselves and all else in the building. Selina watched him cycle the frequency, watched him swap it over to connect internally to his people. But as he did, he never got the message out, not straight away anyway. In opening the channel, they both heard the sounds erupting from down below.

The sounds of gunfire.

The attackers were already here.

* * *

 _ **A/N:**_

 _ **Hey guys.**_

 _ **I love you all! But any chance of you dropping me a quick review at this point...?**_

 _ **Ta,**_

 _ **The Sulkier Clown**_


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